THE 21ST CENTURY WRITER: FICTION AND RESPONSIBILITY - 2025/6

Module Overview

What does it mean to write now, in the 21st Century? How do readers respond to fiction produced now? How do authors write their - and our - 'now'?  How do they represent, interrogate, diagnose the challenges, anxieties, idiosyncrasies and opportunities of our contemporary moment? What is the role of the writer in this current moment? These questions are at the heart of this module. Designed primarily as an EL module (but with some CW exercises alongside EL seminar exercises and a CW assessment option), it explores contemporary literary prose fiction, focusing on influential work produced in the twenty-first century in the UK and North America. It is organised around the question of the role of the writer in the twenty-first century. Throughout the twentieth century, individual writers or 'movements' often articulated a distinct sense of their vocation or responsibility at their particular moment (e.g. André Malraux, Jean-Paul Sartre, J. G. Ballard, Iris Murdoch, Philip Roth, etc.). This module explores whether there is a particular set of responsibilities that comes with being an author now in our current social, media and political climate, and how this might differ from being an author in previous eras? A related question underpinning the module is about the value of literature in the current climate, especially the value of literary fiction in a world in which the boundaries between reality and fiction, truth and falsity, the real and simulation, information and misinformation and disinformation have never been more blurred.The module will be organised into a series of weekly encounters with some of twenty-first-century fiction¿s most prominent and emerging writers, and analysis of distinct modes of writing which have emerged or developed in the twenty-first century to respond to a particular 'need'. Students will debate how these varieties of fiction invite readers to engage with some of the most pressing social, cultural and environmental issues in our world, such as the global dominance of late capitalism, the effects of the Anthropocene, the effect of AGI and other technologies on society and humanity, the experience of increasingly compressed time and space, acceleration and immediacy. Creative writing students will also consider the writing practices deployed in these texts, and will be given the opportunity to respond creatively in seminar exercises to compositional aspects of the texts.Surveys of recent fiction often feature on undergraduate literary programmes as a way of easing level 4 students into the study of literature. This module differs in that enables final-year students to place contemporary literature in a broader literary-historical and cultural framework they have been getting to understand throughout their undergraduate study until this point. It will enable them to reflect on the value of Humanities approaches to assessing history, culture and society in general - and creative and critical literary skills in particular -  as they are about to enter the fast-paced, rapidly-changing twenty-first century world as English/Creative Writing graduates.

Module provider

Literature & Languages

Module Leader

NICOL Bran (Lit & Langs)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Students will analyse recent work by a diverse range of influential contemporary writers, with the emphasis placed on modes or categories of writing which have emerged or gained increased significance in the twenty-first century. Indicative topics that could be covered therefore include: autofiction, 'cli-fi', reality-based fiction, technofiction, 'translit', Afrofuturism, and ¿slipstream¿ fiction.An indicative list of writers who will feature on the module - either as authors of featured primary texts or whose reflections on writing form part of the theoretical framework - might include (but are not limited to): David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers, David Shields, Miranda July, Amitav Ghosh, Octavia E. Butler, Bret Easton Ellis, Karen Russell, Kelly Link, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jennifer Egan, Barbara Kingsolver, Ian McEwan, Bernardine Evaristo, Kazuo Ishiguro, Zadie Smith, Douglas Coupland, Brontez Purnell, and Hari Kunzru. 

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

n/a

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to:

• enable students to analyse complex examples of contemporary fiction and to deploy appropriate theoretical frameworks, and, for creative writing students, apply these to their own creative work
• develop skills in independent research, thinking, and writing by locating resources and materials, critical and/or creative, to develop a compelling and original final assessment
• approach the summative assessment task prior to submission as ¿work-in-progress¿ rather than a final test, enhancing their ability to plan in advance, draft and edit critical/creative material prior to final submission
• develop students' skills in communication, comprehension, and empathetic listening through collaborative discussions and seminar activities and exercises (both individual and collaborative)
• enhance digital capability by ensuring students work with a wide range of textual and visual material both in class and online, by locating relevant resources in databases of scholarly articles and books, and by using digital tools on SurreyLearn.

Formative assessment will involve continual feeding-forward during seminar discussion and tutor feedback on essay/creative work plans and ongoing plans and drafts.The summative assessment for this module will consist of:Either

• one critical essay of 3000 words

OR

• one original creative prose piece* of 2500 words and a 500-word critical commentary

* since the focus of the module is on contemporary prose fiction, the creative option must be prose. However, given the emphasis on ¿new¿ and innovative modes of writing, a broad understanding of what constitutes 'prose fiction' is understood.Normally, the creative writing assessment should be undertaken only by EL/CW students. 

Module aims

• deepen students knowledge of prominent modes of contemporary writing and writing practice aimed at making sense of the present
• enable students to examine a range of fiction produced by some of the most significant novelists in the twenty-first century
• equip students with an understanding of the role and responsibilities of the writer in the twenty-first century (personal, professional, and public)
• develop students¿ ability to engage critically with theories of contemporary fiction, and theoretical frameworks for understanding contemporary culture, politics, society and the environment and apply critical insights to their own writing practices OR published works
• encourage students to consider how prose fiction relates to other cultural forms, primarily in visual media (television, cinema, internet)
• stimulate critical reflection on the value of the Humanities and literature in contemporary society and to recognise how the transferable skills gained from being an English student will be valuable in the world outside the university
• encourage students to submit original creative work for publication

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

This module will deploy an education strategy designed to facilitate nuanced analysis of specific literary texts and place findings in a relevant theoretical content.Teaching will involve preparatory guided reading and advance notice of seminar tasks leading to a weekly workshop in which students will participate in interactive activities. This session will combine strategically-placed lecture components and seminar discussion involving individual prompts, small group exercises, and collective discussions, aimed at helping students cultivate their skills in collaborative learning and self-reflexive enquiry-based work. The emphasis in the discussion component will be placed on student-centred and flipped learning. In addition to designated primary texts and related secondary material, there will be scope for students to identify modes of contemporary writing that fit the module brief and which interest them.The teaching and facilitation of discussion will be accented towards the interests of literature and Creative Writing students to ensure that broader theoretical and literary-critical frameworks are complemented by a focus on individual authors and their understanding of their vocation and an assessment of technical features of prose writing.  Learning and teaching methods include a combination of lecture materials, seminars, captured content, guided learning and independent learning.The strategy will also reinforce techniques and styles of academic and creative writing and analysis introduced in FHEQ level 6. 

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ELI3080

Other information

At the appropriate point each academic year, the module convener will liaise with colleagues convening modules which both lead into and are offered at the same time as this module, such as The American Century, Contemporary Storytelling, Science Fiction, Life Writing, etc. to ensure duplication is avoided and there is a sense of progression or complementarity in selecting similar primary texts.

Surrey's Curriculum Framework is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Digital Capabilities, Employability, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Resourcefulness & Resilience, and Sustainability. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills and capabilities in the following areas:

Digital Capabilities: students will engage with learning technologies throughout the module. They will explore digital and written materials, do independent research online, and retrieve relevant materials and sources for their assessments.

Employability: the module will equip students with transferable skills that employers in a variety of field particularly value. They will develop skills in collaborative and group working through seminar discussions and activities. Students will learn how to evaluate and compare reading/viewing materials and will develop skills in connective thinking, critical analysis, and intercultural reflection. Students will also develop skills in presenting ideas effectively and concisely, and in summarising and synthesising a large body of knowledge. In particular, this module will help students reflect upon the specific skills and values associate with Humanities research, giving them confidence the skills acquired and developed throughout their degree can be used productively in their future careers.

Global and Cultural Capabilities: students will be introduced to a wide range of social, cultural, political and historical perspectives enabling them to place contemporary fiction from the UK and North America in broader global and cultural contexts. In seminars, students will also be able to share their experiences and knowledge from their own cultural background, and thus participate in critical conversations and dialogue on personal experiences of social justice.

Sustainability: in this module, students will be encouraged to reflect on the social, economic, cultural, and environmental impact of human societies, in discussions which have specific literary texts as focal points. The variety of literary work - which considers topics such as the Anthropocene and climate change - will acquaint them with multiple perspectives and approaches to the importance of ensuring culturally sustainable, equitable and inclusive society.
 

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.