Undergraduate Course: Literature of the 1950s (LLLG07050)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 7 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | THIS IS A FOR-CREDIT COURSE OFFERED BY THE OFFICE OF LIFELONG LEARNING (OLL); ONLY STUDENTS REGISTERED WITH OLL SHOULD BE ENROLLED.
British literature of the 1950s helped bring about huge changes in attitudes towards society, the class system, sexual morality, and Britain's place in the post-war world. The texts on the course represent some of the finest writing from the period, from the verbal delights of Dylan Thomas, through the social drama of John Osborne and Shelagh Delaney, the post-colonial encounters of Muriel Spark, to the emerging modern poetry of Gunn, Hughes, and Larkin. |
| Course description |
Week 1: Introduction to the literature of the 1950s
Week 2: Dylan Thomas, extracts from Collected Poems 1934-1952
Week 3: Muriel Spark, short stories 'The Seraph of the Zambesi' (1951), 'The House of the Famous Poet' (1952), and 'The Go-Away Bird' (1958)
Week 4: John Osborne, Look Back in Anger (1956)
Weeks 5 and 6: Graham Greene, The Quiet American (1955)
Week 7: Philip Larkin, poems from the 1950s
Week 8: John Braine, Room at the Top (1957)
Week 9: Shelagh Delaney, A Taste of Honey (1958)
Week 10: Thom Gunn and Ted Hughes, Selected Poems (1962)
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
* explain the special qualities of the writing of the 1950s;
* situate the writing of the 1950s in its social and political context;
* discuss the new literary techniques the writers of the period experiment with.
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Reading List
Essential
Braine, John 1989. Room at the Top. London: Arrow.
Delaney, Shelagh 2008. A Taste of Honey. London: Methuen.
Greene, Graham 2004. The Quiet American. London: Vintage.
Gunn, T. and Hughes, T., 1983. Selected Poems. London: Faber and Faber.
Larkin, P., 2003. Collected Poetry. London: Faber and Faber.
Osborne, John, 1978. Look Back in Anger. London: Faber and Faber.
Spark, Muriel, 2011. Collected Short Stories. Edinburgh: Canongate. Thomas, Dylan, 2003. Collected Poems. London: Phoenix.
Recommended
Cockin, K. and Morrison, J., 2010. The post-war British literature handbook. London: Continuum.
Day, G. and Docherty, B., 1997. British poetry from the 1950s to the 1990s: politics and art. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Russell Brown, J., 1968. Modern British Dramatists: a collection of critical essays. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice Hall.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Collaborative working.
Group discussion.
Composition of discursive essays.
Understanding of interpersonal relationships. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Anya Clayworth
Tel:
Email: aclaywor@staffmail.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Sabine Murdoch
Tel: (0131 6)51 1855
Email: Sabine.Murdoch@ed.ac.uk |
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