This course is taught in conjunction with HUMN8014. Only students enrolled in the program Master of Arts (English) and HUMN 8014 are permitted to take this course.

This course offers students resources for analysing the way literature and literary criticism has been stimulated and diversely affected by various ‘worldly approaches' to understanding literature. We analyse the way not only writers but critics of literature have responded to world events including fascism and the end of the age of empire. We discuss how literary critics have transcended the private process of reading and defined themselves as ‘public intellectuals' and engaged with the burning issues of their times. We ask how literary criticism has sought to describe literature's ‘being in the world' while also respecting the aesthetic autonomy and creative power of literature. These worldly evaluations of literature include postcolonial analyses of the relationship between literature and colonisation, globally minded analyses of the evolution of literary genres, and new historicist critiques of the power dynamics that enable, constrain, and modify literary texts.

Course aims:

To give students the resources to analyse and explain the historical, social, and political contexts that inform literary texts and their reception, and to enhance students knowledge of the history of literary criticism and the diverse contributions of literary critics to intellectual life in the twentieth century.

Learning outcomes:

The literature review will develop the students' understanding of research in the field, enhancing their capacity to critically reflect on a body of scholarship. The major essay will allow students to conduct independent research into literature and literary criticism they consider germane to the course themes.

Literature Review (2500 words) – 50%

Research Essay (2500 words) – 50%

As this course is being run concurrently with HUMN8014, it is possible to include these assessment items as additional word counts for the HUMN 8014 assessment. Students will have the option to complete four assignments of a shorter word length, or two assignments of a longer word length.

This course is taught in conjunction with HUMN8014. Only students enrolled in the program Master of Arts (English) and HUMN 8014 are permitted to take this course.