Course Details in 2026/27 Session

Module Title	LH Sympathetic Texts
School	Eng, Drama, & Creative Studies
Department	Film and Creative Writing
Module Code	09 30731
Module Lead	Anna Metcalfe
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Exclusions
Description	How and why do texts encourage us to feel sympathy for other beings? Why do some characters appear more sympathetic than others? What might be the ethical implications of asking a reader to feel sympathy for something, through writing? Do the activities of reading and writing serve to make us more sympathetic to the world around us? This module will provide a creative, theoretical and political introduction to ideas of sympathy in writing. Students will gain a broad understanding of the ways in which texts can ask their readers to become sympathetic towards people, places, ideas and things in a range of different textual forms, including journalistic writing, writing for charity, poetry, fiction and non-fiction. They will then come up with their own creative pieces, engaging with ideas of sympathetic texts, readers and writers.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: identify key literary techniques by which sympathetic responses are produced in readers and experiment with using and/or subverting these techniques in their own work demonstrate understanding of the various reasons that writers might seek to make their subjects sympathetic to readers across a range of genres demonstrate understanding of and engagement with the social, political and ethical implications of asking or encouraging a reader to feel sympathy for another being through text and the limitations of sympathy as a readerly response develop creative work that engages with ideas of sympathy and/or sympathetic characters in ethically engaged ways
Assessment	30731-01 : Creative work 2500 words prose or 150 lines poetry : Coursework (70%) 30731-02 : Reflective essay 1500 words : Coursework (30%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: A creative piece of 2500 words (prose) or 125 lines (poetry) that engages with ideas of readerly and writerly sympathy (70%) 1500 word reflective essay exploring this engagement in critical terms (30%) Reassessment: Failed component only A creative piece of 2500 words (prose) or 125 lines (poetry) that engages with ideas of readerly and writerly sympathy (70%) 1500 word reflective essay exploring this engagement in critical terms (30%)
Other
Reading List