Postgraduate Course: Contemporary Scottish Fiction (ENLI11061)
Course Outline
| School |
School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College |
College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type |
Standard |
Availability |
Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) |
SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits |
20 |
| Home subject area |
English Literature |
Other subject area |
None |
| Course website |
None |
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| Course description |
This course seeks to acknowledge and explore the tremendous wealth of contemporary Scottish writing, understood as that which has been produced since the mid 1980s. The course takes as its starting point the formal innovations of James Kelman=s fiction, on the basis that his work makes available a range of strategies which liberate Scottish writing from many of the concerns which had dominated most of the twentieth century. However, while the course aims to luxuriate in that new formal and thematic freedom, it will also seek to link it to a consideration of the restructuring of the field of literary production in the period, which threatens to domesticate such strategies. The course will aim to give a flavour of the contemporary literary field in Scotland, looking at bestselling and less celebrated works, examining texts whose narrative strategies push the psychological and pathological dimensions of the novel to its limits, but also novels which conform to generic expectations. Does capitulating to generic demands negate the critical potential of the writer, as Kelman has argued? Or does the blurring of boundaries between literary and genre fiction represent the liberation of both writer and audience from literary convention? |
Entry Requirements
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites |
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| Prohibited Combinations |
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Other requirements |
None
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| Additional Costs |
Essential course texts |
Course Delivery Information
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
| By the end of the course students should expect to be able to demonstrate their familiarity with a range of contemporary Scottish writers and to critically evaluate their work considered against its social and cultural background. Students should be able to discuss the political and ethical dimensions of narrative technique and genre, and suggest why particular works adopt specific formal strategies. |
Assessment Information
1 coursework essay of 4000 words (100%)
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Special Arrangements
| Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser |
Dr Alex Thomson
Tel: (0131 6)50 3058
Email: Alex.Thomson@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary |
Ms June Haigh
Tel: (0131 6)50 3612
Email: j.haigh@ed.ac.uk |
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copyright 2010 The University of Edinburgh -
1 September 2010 6:01 am
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