Course Details in 2023/24 Session

Module Title	LC Dystopia
School	Eng, Drama, & Creative Studies
Department	English Literature
Module Code	09 37160
Module Lead	Nathan Waddell
Level	Certificate Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-10 hours Seminar-20 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	This module introduces students to twentieth-century and contemporary dystopian narratives with an emphasis on questions of genre and form. Problems at the foreground include things like: What are dystopias? How can we interpret them? What do they do, narratively speaking? And why do they matter? The goal is to establish and to help students identify key generic markers in dystopian texts and films that will a) give them a grounding in this important narrative mode; b) help them grasp how these generic conventions can be challenged; and c) serve students well if they return to the study of dystopian texts in later years at UoB.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Identify the key formal attributes of dystopian literature and film, explaining how different works fit the ‘standard’ shape of the genre; Understand how dystopian narratives experiment with form over time, even as they consolidate the shape and purpose of the dystopia as a distinct generic category; Analyse dystopian narratives with reference to different kinds of explanatory context (e.g. history, theory, politics, ethics, gender, class, and race); Discuss the implications of dystopian narratives as a peculiarly post-Victorian mode of cultural imagining, with an eye on history and its relevance to the genre.
Assessment	37160-06 : 22-23 Submission : Coursework (100%) 37160-07 : 23-24 Submission : Coursework (100%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	1,000 word essay (30%) 2,000 word essay (70%) Reassessment: Resubmission of failed component(s)
Other
Reading List