Modern Scottish Fiction (U02774)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : LLC-4-EL0098

This course examines selected works of fiction by Scottish writers from the 1930s to the early 1980s. It is intended to act as a bridge between the Renaissance of the 1920s, focused around the figures of MacDiarmid and Gibbon, and the development of a distinctively contemporary Scottish literature in the 1980s, examining a set of concerns which can be seen to culminate in the work of Alasdair Gray. The focus is on ‘literary’ rather than genre fiction, and the course seeks to explore a range of the various formal strategies available to writers of the period. In particular the course will examine the interaction between the demand for artistic ‘realism’ in the name of political expediency and longer standing artistic commitments to mythic and romance modes of storytelling, the tension between which might be said to characterise wider debates about the national identity and the political efficacy of writing in the period. The course will also register the significant emergence of a third fictional mode, drawing on existentialist thought and developments in European literature, and paying particular attention to the work of Muriel Spark.

Entry Requirements

? This course is not available to visting students.

? Pre-requisites : Passes in Enlgish or Scottish Literature 1, and English or Scottish or American Literature 2, with a mark of 50 or above at the first attempt in the second year course. Passes in third year courses in the subject area amounting to at least 40 credits.

? Special Arrangements for Entry : Numbers are limited to 15, with priority given to students taking degrees involving English or Scottish Literature and Visiting Students placed by the Admissions Office. Students not in these categories need the written approval of the Head of English Literature before enrolling. In the case of excess applications places will be decided by ballot.

? Costs : Essential course texts

Subject Areas

Home subject area

English Literature, (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, Schedule G)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 4th year

? Delivery Period : Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

? Other Required Attendance : 1 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
18/09/2007	09:00	10:50	Room 6.11, David Hume Tower	Central

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Tuesday	09:00	10:50	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

y the end of the course students should expect to have read a range of fiction produced by Scottish writers of this period, and to be able to situate specific works in relation to wider literary and cultural trends. They should be able to discuss the relationship between literature and cultural politics, with particular concern for possible tensions between notions of ‘realism’, ‘myth’ and ‘history’. They should be able to illustrate such a discussion with reference to examples of specific formal strategies adopted by novelists for negotiating between a range of artistic and political demands.