English Literature with Foundation Year

This module introduces you to the literary-critical skills and approaches that are fundamental to the study of English. It will equip you with specialist analytical terminology and techniques while reinforcing and developing your existing skills of analysis. You will consider the construction of a range of texts drawn from different genres and literary-historical periods. Particular attention will be paid in taught sessions to the subject-specific research, planning and writing skills that you will need throughout your degree. Teaching will also support the development of digital skills in advance of the final assessment. You will develop your knowledge and skills through in-class discussion, directed research tasks and independent study. Some sessions will be explicitly student-led: you will be encouraged to read beyond the texts specified and asked to contribute questions for class discussion. University-level research skills will be embedded in taught sessions, with support from the Hub.

This module is an introduction to Gothic effects, such as suspense, mood, eeriness, the weird, fantasy and horror. It covers texts from the eighteenth century to the present to build students’ knowledge of the rise of the Gothic as well as its different manifestations in different genres and creative outputs, such as the novel, poetry and film. It also contextualises the Gothic by identifying its conventions, themes and motifs, such as the graveyard, the supernatural and monsters. Because of this module’s focus on Gothic as evoking effects, this module lends itself to psychological and sociological approaches and as well as links to key concepts and ideas explored on subsequent genre and period modules. Teaching pays special attention to the close reading of primary texts and the development of written skills in advance of the final assessment.

This module offers an introduction to some of the literary works, frameworks, and cultural developments in modern American literature. The primary texts will be drawn from a variety of genres and forms of writing, and will cover a period from the emergence of modern literature in the early twentieth-century through to the diversification of American cultural voices in the post-war period. Teaching will pay particular attention to the enhancement of close reading skills and the development of oral argument and presentation skills in advance of the final assessment. The module also establishes the conceptual foundations for subsequent ‘period’ modules though its dual exploration of aesthetic innovation and societal change, as you evaluate a body of works that represent, and critically respond to, the ideals, myths and values of the ‘American century’.

Have you ever stopped to wonder about the origins of your favourite texts? When did human beings first begin writing down, recording, and retelling stories from their lives and imaginations? This one-of-a-kind module introduces you to the most important foundational myths, legends, fables and stories to have ever informed Western literature and media. It traces how literary texts have drawn on and transformed potent myths, and the impact which changes in society have had upon English literature and Anglophone societies. Primary texts range from Classical works to fairy tales alongside examples of their contemporary adaptations. You will be offered a broad contextual view of these stories and their transformations, and provided with avenues through which to pursue individual research and develop your critical skills.

This module will equip you with the necessary skills to analyse and evaluate poetry. It empowers you to read, analyse, and discuss poems and lyrics by giving you the tools to express your responses to poetry by understanding technical features of poetic form and language. It will give you an idea of the breath and range of poetry in English by developing intertextual connections and recognising its relation to changing contexts. It engages in current debates about the nature and function of poetry, developing three main emphases: skills development, literary knowledge, and theoretical awareness. The module provides an introductory survey of poetry written in English that crosses centuries, poetic genres and forms, metre and rhythm. Its range embraces performance and political poetry, and musical lyrics, as well as written poetry, testing your knowledge through a practical form of assessment that connects visual, digital, and presentation skills.

This module studies Shakespeare’s timeless work and investigates the ways his texts are repeatedly rewritten and performed today. Over 400 years from his death the popularity of his work is not weakened; on the contrary his plays are read, studied, and performed all over the world both in English and in translation. His work is as relevant as ever and it is to be found in the richness of language expressions which still permeate the English language, and in intertextual connections found in multiple, diverse cultural, literary and artistic contexts all over the world. This module provides an introduction to Shakespeare’s range of work and its reception in his time, and a foundation in the use of plays as texts. You will engage in current debates about the nature and function of Shakespeare’s work by reading the work of the Elizabethan bard in relation to changing contexts through a range of production instances. This module emphases skills development, literary knowledge, and internationalisation. It assumes no prior knowledge or engagement with Shakespeare’s work. It provides an introductory survey of his oeuvre and a range of specific case studies by focusing on his plays, ranging from tragedy to comedy. You will reflect on the ways in which his humour, themes, and dramatic twists bridge the difference between age groups and cultures.

This module offers a broad examination of the longstanding and multifaceted relationship between literature and film. It begins with an introduction to the critical vocabulary of film analysis as a means of establishing the semiological differences between film art and traditional literary forms. It then proceeds, through a series of textual and cultural case-studies, to explore key elements of the complex interplay between these two art forms. It examines formal strategies and ideological implications of literary adaptation; the potential synergies and divergences of different literary forms and genres; the cultural translation of adapted texts over time; the parallel development of form in both mediums; and the cinematic framing of specific authors, characters or genres. Overall, the module seeks to foster a greater critical understanding and appreciation of ways both art forms express and embody cultural values and meaning.

Through this module you will embark on a journey to discover world literatures by exploring a range of texts written both by authors whose national languages include English and those whose work has been translated into English. The module studies how literary texts are transformed by cultural transmission, the significance of major technological advances in publishing, as well as the reasons for publishing in English and the variety and diversity of the literature produced in the world. By examining a range of texts by different authors, the module reflects on readership and publishing. It engages with current debates on the nature and function of literature and it helps you to develop critical and analytical skills in recognizing the multifarious nature of world literatures in English by exploring a variety of cultural and literary contexts. This module emphasises literary knowledge and ethical and theoretical awareness. Its range embraces novelists, poets and dramatists from around the world and encourages you to appreciate today’s intertwined global cultures by looking at, for example, the Booker Prize List. You will acquire lifelong skills in interpreting and evaluating texts and learn how to develop and communicate an informed personal response to literature attentive to different cultural contexts and traditions.

In recent years, women’s writing has emerged as a major influence on twentieth- and twenty-first-century literature. This module examines the impact of women in literature through a variety of literary forms and transnational parallels and contrasts. It highlights identity politics and the ways in which women have fought to change discriminations based on race, gender, class, age, and sexuality. By bringing together several themes other modules have introduced, this module strengthens your confidence in undertaking independent research. It equips you with increased research skills and resourcefulness in choosing their areas of specialist literary knowledge by exploring women’s writing by weaving a thread of critical enquiry determined by the significance of women’s contributions to literature. In doing so, it follows a chronologic trajectory, which acknowledges the origins of feminism, and an international perspective that encompasses a variety of diverse authors. It tests your knowledge through coursework that facilitates students’ choice and independent research skills.

This module offers a survey of the development of western drama from the late 19th century to the present day. You will be introduced to dramatists such as Ibsen, Brecht, Williams and Beckett, alongside key developments and debates in dramaturgical theory and practice. You will be required to think comparatively about theatrical style and ideological expression, relating approaches such as realism, expressionism and absurdism to thematic structures of cultural dissidence, moral subversion and political engagement. Individual plays will be considered as theatrical events as well as written texts so attention will also be paid to the specific theatrical and institutional contexts of individual works, and you will be examine visual and video materials relating to staged performances. Specialist workshop sessions will be scheduled to introduce and enhance the digital literacies required for the practical assessment.

This module is organised around key frameworks for the understanding of human and cultural identity; likely to include gender, sexuality, nationality, ethnicity, subculture and social class. The exploration of such frameworks is supported by theoretical materials designed to introduce students to key literary and cultural concepts (such as ideology, patriarchy, heteronormativity, performativity, otherness, diaspora, and hybridity). Literary texts will be drawn from a variety of genres, periods, and cultures, and students will be required to identify, and reflect upon, the correlations between identity and its literary and/or aesthetic expression. Through both seminar discussion and the assignment tasks, students will be encouraged to adopt a pluralistic and comparative approach to the topic, crossing textual and discipline boundaries in their exploration of the interlaced operations of cultural classification and individual self-definition.

This module is organised around key frameworks for the understanding of human and cultural identity; likely to include gender, sexuality, nationality, ethnicity, subculture and social class. The exploration of such frameworks is supported by theoretical materials designed to introduce students to key literary and cultural concepts (such as ideology, patriarchy, heteronormativity, performativity, otherness, diaspora, and hybridity). Literary texts will be drawn from a variety of genres, periods, and cultures, and students will be required to identify, and reflect upon, the correlations between identity and its literary and/or aesthetic expression. Through both seminar discussion and the assignment tasks, students will be encouraged to adopt a pluralistic and comparative approach to the topic, crossing textual and discipline boundaries in their exploration of the interlaced operations of cultural classification and individual self-definition.

This module examines literature written for children and young adults. It engages you with its history and recent successes and transformations and explores its diverse range of genres, such as fairy tales, fables, picture books, poetry, fantasy, and non-fiction. It provides knowledge and understanding of cultural and social contexts, origins of literary form as well as constructions and representations of childhood and youth. 

Teaching will pay particular attention to themes, such as suitability and creativity, gender and sexuality, childhood and adolescence, as well as a range of different theoretical approaches that deepens the study of literature written for children and young adults and about childhood and youth.

This module offers you the opportunity to study popular literature as a specific field of literary and cultural production. It examines key concepts and theoretical issues relating to the popular, including its definition and relationship to genre writing, and the significance of production and distribution practices. The module addresses a sample of illustrative texts drawn from popular literary genres such as action-adventure, travel and life writing, romance, crime, sensation and historical fiction, fantasy, horror, and fan fiction. In addition to analysing the distinctive features of selected popular genres, you will examine the social and cultural contexts informing illustrative texts and evaluate their connections to, and articulations of, relevant cultural issues and debates.

This module allows you to develop writing skills in a number of genres and understand and apply a range of techniques required for diverse crafts of writing. It explores several genres and styles and the teaching considers planning and execution, audience and the opportunities literature presents for creative interventions in contemporary or historical issues or debates. The module encourages you to consider the wider social, cultural and thetical implications of literary praxis, and to assume agency through your creative contributions to important cultural conversations. 

This module examines the emerging ‘super-genre’ of speculative fiction: a classification that encompasses a range of sub-genres that employ speculative non-realist devices to explore and express contemporary fears and cultural anxieties. It explores the inherently metaphoric nature of the works, foregrounding their capacity to promote political critique and ethical reflection through the imaginative construction of alternative pasts, presents and futures. The illustrative reading will embrace the fluidity and hybridity of the genre by drawing examples from a diverse range of short stories and novels tat display the characteristics of sub-genres such as utopian fiction, dystopian fiction, science-fiction, post-apocalytic projection, the fantastic and alternative history fiction. Individual writers may include, for example, H.G.Wells, Aldous Huxley, Philip K. Dick, Marge Piercy, Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood and Emily St. John Mandel. Through a comparative examination of common characteristics and conceptual frames, you will be encouraged to move beyond the limitations of traditional classification and recognise the increasing sophistication of non-mimetic genres as a literary form.

This module provides you with opportunities to apply subject-specific and skills and knowledge, being developed throughout the programme, in a transferable manner. To facilitate this, you will develop an enhanced awareness of the transferability of those skills through project-based learning. Suggested projects could take the form of a publication project (print or web), targeted writing project (such as brochure, newsletter or resource pack), or a project relating to a particular industry (such as arts, heritage, education, journalism, etc.), although this is not proscriptive. Guidance will be provided on identifying a suitable project, research methodology, writing to a specific brief, and writing reflectively. You could choose to develop a project in partnership with a local organisation: the English department has a track record of working with community partners, recent examples of which Lincoln Book Festival, a local HR company, and The Lincoln Teenage Market.

This module embeds your understanding of your transferable communication skills (oral, written, and digital) and information literacies in specific, employability contexts. It will, furthermore, allow you to reflect on the reciprocity of creative and entrepreneurial skills. The module is project-based, in that you identify and develop your own project in which to apply your skills and may use it to explore a specific professional area. It encourages you to explore and reflect the relationship between their academic skills and employability.

Britain’s literature is as diverse as its people, shaped by centuries of empire, migration and resistance. This module dives into the writers and works that have reshaped British identity, exploring how literature reflects shifting cultural and political landscapes. It offers a selective survey of multicultural British literature considered in the context of empire and its demise, the migration of people to Britain from the colonised and formerly colonised world, the racist nationalism of the decades following WWII, and the more contemporary phenomena of asylum-seeking and terror. 

We will consider in detail the stylistic and formal properties of a diverse range of texts, from realist novels to performance poetry and visual media. We’ll be asking: How does history shape identity? How have writers responded to racism and nationalism, and staked their claim to belong? What does it mean to write about home when home is complex, contested or far away? Following a broad timeline, we’ll explore themes like migration, asylum-seeking and global connections. 

Along the way, we’ll engage with key ideas from postcolonial, feminist and cultural theory to deepen our understanding of as well as connecting to wider artistic and political debates. Ultimately, this module is about the voices that challenge, inspire and re-write Britain’s story.

This module offers a final opportunity for you to extend your critical engagement with modern writing through an examination of some of the most significant writers, movements, and innovations in literature since the end of the second world war. Through a variety of genres and literary forms, the module will examine divergent representations and responses to this unsettling period, from disillusioned expressions of national or political decline to progressive visions of renewal through cultural hybridity and reinvention. Central strands of investigation will likely include: challenges to realism and aesthetic experimentation; the rise of apocalyptic imaginaries and the arrival of the Anthropocene; multiculturalism and globalisation; and the deconstruction of self and subjectivity. Lectures and seminars will test and enhance the literary-critical skills acquired in your first and second through an engagement with relatively complex literary works, contexts and theoretical frameworks, paying particular attention to the development of independent critical argument in advance of the final assessment. The inclusion of different national literatures within the module acknowledges the significant impact of international exchanges during the period as well as providing a means of investigating the increasingly global contexts and concerns of late 20^th and 21^st century literature.

This module promotes detailed knowledge of the major developments in English Literature occurring during the Romantic period. With its emphasis on the cultural contexts of literary, poetic and dramatic language this module enables you to discuss critically changing modes of expression in relation to political, philosophical, aesthetic and social contexts. It includes some consideration of visual art and print culture, building upon your exposure to other instances of this on other period or genre modules. The teaching pays particular attention to primary resources in terms of social, cultural and literary contexts, by examining texts written in response to idea championed by revolutionaries, reformers and Enlightenment thinkers. In view of the final assessment the module facilitates the building of research context and skills.

This module explores a range of literary and other texts associated with the cultural and artistic developments of Modernism during the early decades of the twentieth-century. It will introduce you to the diverse strands of Modernism, as exemplified by writers such as Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Ernst Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, W. B. Yeats, Katherine Mansfield, Jean Rhys, and William Faulkner. In addition, it will contextualise these literary achievements amidst the cultural and historical contexts of modernity, examining areas such as colonialism, the artistic avant-garde, modern alienation & the metropolis, gender and sexuality, and the impact of the First World War. Workshops and seminars will pay particular attention to the relationship between cultural transition and aesthetic innovation, further enhancing your close reading skills and historicist methodologies. There will be specific sessions dedicated to the introduction and enhancement of digital literacies to help you prepare for the hypertext assessment.

This module requires you to devise and undertake a dissertation on a subject of interest and to prepare, in written form, a substantial literary critical essay, including a proposal and reference list. It draws on research skills imparted on earlier, research-led modules, but requires you to impart these in a more independent and critically advanced manner. This module will deepen and refine your knowledge of your chosen specialist area and offers insights into the construction of longer pieces of analytical written work and the ways in which arguments are honed across them. The teaching pays particular attention to supporting you in your research and writing processes. This support includes taught whole-group sessions at the beginning, midpoint and end of the module, feedback sessions, and tutorial provision delivered by individual tutors.

At a time of climate emergency, this module asks how literature reimagines the environment and our relationship to it. You will begin by studying literatures produced in the early stages of the industrial revolution in order to understand some of the causes of our current environmental crisis, including fossil fuel production, major transport networks and other infrastructures, urbanisation, and global food supply chains. Literature not only represents these developments, but also imaginatively responds to the environmental changes that result from them. Poetry and fiction, in particular, call attention to alternative ways of conceiving of and responding to our surroundings, from evoking nostalgia for pastoral lands unaffected by industry to presenting utopian visions of environments for the future. This module will develop your understanding of the range of literary forms that imaginatively respond to environmental change. You will examine elegies that express despair at environmental change, creative essay prose that fosters environmentalist action, and speculative fiction that promotes ecological utopias. Teaching will focus on enhancing knowledge and understanding of key literary texts and environmental debates and issues from the eighteenth century until today. The assignment will ask you to develop critical arguments that bring your understanding of environmental literatures to bear on pressing ecological and environmental questions in the environmental humanities today.

This module studies literature from the English medieval period, covering a range of genres and authors. In addition to analysing texts in their original languages and contexts, you are encouraged to recognise their impact and influence on contemporary literature and media. You will also consider the practical relevance of texts by exploring manuscripts and the ‘margins’ of medieval literature. The module is designed to develop your knowledge of pre-Early Modern literature obtained at previous levels. Teaching pays special attention to the particular requirements of studying medieval literature. You are provided with the skills necessary to reading primary sources in their original languages. The practical form of assessment allows you to explore an area of personal interest from the module while developing their research, oral, and presentation skills.