THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2020/2021

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Centre for Open Learning : Literature, Languages and Cultures

Undergraduate Course: Looking at Literary Prizes (LLLG07096)

Course Outline
SchoolCentre for Open Learning CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 7 (Year 1 Undergraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryThis course explores the winning novels of five different literary prizes in one year. The criteria for each prize will be explored and we shall evaluate how successfully the winning novels fulfil those criteria, the judging processes and how critics and contemporary readers responded to the winning novels. We shall consider winners of prizes such as the PEN/Faulkner, Pulitzer, National Book Award, Whitbread and the Commonwealth First Novel and evaluate how literary value is ascribed and how much influence ordinary readers might have on the awarding of literary prizes and the influence of commercial value. In the final session, we shall compare all the novels we have read from this year and decide which is our book of the year.
Course description This course explores the winning novels of five different literary prizes in one year. The criteria for each prize will be explored and we shall evaluate how successfully the winning novels fulfil those criteria, the judging processes and how critics and contemporary readers responded to the winning novels. We shall consider winners of prizes such as the PEN/Faulkner, Pulitzer, National Book Award, Whitbread and the Commonwealth First Novel and evaluate how literary value is ascribed and how much influence ordinary readers might have on the awarding of literary prizes and the influence of commercial value. In the final session, we shall compare all the novels we have read from this year and decide which is our book of the year.


Students on this course will read five novels which were awarded literary prizes in 2001. Through lectures and seminar discussion, students will explore the key themes and stylistic characteristics of each novel and develop skills in close reading, critical analysis, using and interpreting secondary reading and writing an academic piece of work. Students will engage with the texts through excerpts for close reading, chosen by the tutor, in a supportive tutorial atmosphere. Through our reading of Philip Roth¿s The Human Stain, we will explore the role of political correctness in American morality and how race is explored in language. The Whitbread Prize will draw our focus to one of the important publishing phenomena of this period, the simultaneous publication of children¿s and adults¿ versions of the same text, in this case, Philip Pullman¿s final book in the His Dark Materials Trilogy: The Amber Spyglass. We will explore how a text is affected when it is awarded a prize like this and how the novel works for both adult and child readers. Michael Chabon¿s Pulitzer Prize winning The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay will allow us to investigate the importance of comic books in a post-war world and how the stories created by Kavalier and Clay allow them to negotiate a world in which they encounter fear and prejudice. From the Pulitzer we will move on to consider Jonathan Franzen¿s National Book Award winning novel The Corrections. This novel expresses the anxiety of a family on the cusp of personal and national change as Franzen measures a pre-9/11 American society moving away from the 90s tech boom to new ways of thinking. Our final novel will be Zadie Smith¿s debut novel, White Teeth which won the Commonwealth Writers¿ First Book Prize. We will be thinking about issues of immigration and roots as well how Smith uses multiple narrative viewpoints to discuss multiculturalism from a number of perspectives. Throughout the course we shall be discussing issues such as literary value, commercial value, readability and above all, how useful literary prizes are in the way in which we determine literary merit. We will try to draw out consistent themes between these authors and their texts all published in 2001 and identify how the public responded to their wins. In our final session of the course we will compare all the texts on the course and try to establish some criteria to decide which is our best book of the year. The course comprises ten two-hour classes plus approx. 80 hours of individual study.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2020/21, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  20
Course Start Lifelong Learning - Session 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 20, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 78 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 2000 word essay submitted at the end of the course = 100%
Feedback Detailed written feedback is given on an optional practice essay, submitted in week six. The final 2000 word assessment (worth 100% of mark) is submitted at the end of the course on which detailed written feedback is provided. Learning outcomes are embedded within essay questions and tutor feedback.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Articulate knowledge and understanding of the issues that influence the awarding of literary prizes such as readability, literary value, commercialism and marketing;
  2. Construct original, clear and coherent arguments, using recognised critical terminology and methodologies;
  3. Evaluate, compare and contrast prize-winning fiction of 2006, demonstrating knowledge of linguistic, literary, cultural and political contexts;
  4. Extrapolate, evaluate and assess ideas from non-literary texts such as criticism or journalism in order to bring them to bear on their analyses of prize-winning literary texts;
Reading List
None
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Confidence in discussing texts
Ability to articulate knowledge and arguments coherently
Ability to assess secondary material
KeywordsLiterary,Prizes,Fiction
Contacts
Course organiserMs Rachael King
Tel:
Email: Rachael.King@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Kameliya Skerleva
Tel: (0131 6)51 1855
Email: Kameliya.Skerleva@ed.ac.uk
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