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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2023/2024

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures : Common Courses (School of Lit, Lang and Cult)

Postgraduate Course: Fantastic Fiction (CLLC11112)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Literatures, Languages and Cultures CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course complements existing options available to students on the MSc programme in Comparative and General Literature. It offers an opportunity to engage with a wide range of 19th, 20th century and contemporary European and Latin-American texts through the specific perspective of the genre of the fantastic.

How do we define 'Fantastic Fiction' and what is its purpose and effect? Through study of a wide range of modern and contemporary texts that engage with the 'Fantastic' as a genre, this option aims to examine such questions, whilst considering the particular contexts in which each work was published. Students may engage with the intertextual dimensions of particular works; the use of the fantastic as ideological or political tool in literature; society and the individual; the relationship of the fantastic to the 'real'; utopias and dystopias; negotiations of gender and race etc. The course begins with an overview of attempts to theorise the genre (Todorov et al), and is followed by close analysis of a selection of texts (selection may vary from year to year depending on staff availability).
Course description This course complements existing options available to students on the MSc programme in Comparative and General Literature. It offers an opportunity to engage with a wide range of 19th, 20th century and contemporary European and Latin-American texts through the specific perspective of the genre of the fantastic.

Aims and Objectives
How do we define 'Fantastic Fiction' and what is its purpose and effect? Through study of a wide range of modern and contemporary texts that engage with the 'Fantastic' as a genre, this option aims to examine such questions, whilst considering the particular contexts in which each work was published. Students may engage with the intertextual dimensions of particular works; the use of the fantastic as ideological or political tool in literature; society and the individual; the relationship of the fantastic to the 'real'; utopias and dystopias; negotiations of gender and race etc.

The course begins with an overview of attempts to theorise the genre (Todorov et al), and is followed by close analysis of a selection of texts by the following authors (selection may vary from year to year depending on staff availability).

Week 1: Introductory seminar (please see planned activities for this seminar via online LEARN website)
Preparation for 1st seminar - see selection of articles on Learn
(Neil Cornwell's Introduction, 'The Literary Fantastic' (1990), Todorov, Apter etc.)

Please come prepared to discuss the Cornwell and/or Apter and/or Chotiudompant and Whitehead text, and to present the salient points you have gleaned from your reading thus far.

Indicative texts - further details for 2023-24 tbc.
German
Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis and Other Stories, trans. Joyce Crick with an introduction by Ritchie Robertson (OUP, 2009)
(Dr Jenny Watson)

Russian
M. Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita (Penguin Classics)
(Dr Alexandra Smith)

Russian
M. Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita (Penguin Classics)
(Dr Alexandra Smith)

Spanish
Julio Cortázar, End of the Game and Other Stories, or Blow-Up and Other Stories translated by Paul Blackburn, New York: Pantheon, 1967 (any edition - the same collection was published under two different titles).

Ricardo Romero, The President's Room (Charco Press, 2015).
(Dr Fiona Mackintosh)

French
M. Darrieussecq, Truismes/Pig Tales (Poche, 1996/Faber, 2003), week 9
J. Harpman, Moi qui n'ai pas connu les hommes/ I Who Have Never Known Men/ Seven Stories Press, 1997, week 10
(Dr Susan Bainbrigge)

Texts are to be taught in English translation (although students are welcome to read in the original where appropriate).

Generally, the intended learning outcomes are those of all MSc Options offered on the General and Comparative Programme; they include the ability to negotiate complex intellectual ideas, in debate as well as in essays, and the appreciation of contrasting and evolving viewpoints. Intended learning outcomes are:

- to demonstrate advanced knowledge and understanding of the chosen specialism(s)
- to recognise and acknowledge the complexity of the subject
- to show a good understanding of and apply competently complex conceptual frameworks
- to construct coherent arguments which demonstrate an awareness of the problems posed by the texts/ issues which they are studying
- to demonstrate a high level of expression in both written and oral presentations
- to demonstrate the mastery of relevant technical terminology and research methods
- to carry out personal research under the guidance of the tutor and offer evidence of research initiative
- to offer alternative perspectives, identify and accommodate ambiguities and show an awareness of nuance
- to develop original ideas
- to demonstrate an awareness of the research agenda relating to the topic
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2023/24, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  15
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 196 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Assessment 1 (Critical Review, 1000 words, 30% weighting).
Assessment 2. (Coursework Essay, 3000 words, 70% weighting).

Students will be given feedback on essay plans submitted in preparation for the assessed essay (and informal feedback by way of discussion on any class presentations which take place during the course).

Feedback Not entered
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. show a good understanding of and apply competently complex conceptual frameworks relating to the genre of Fantastic literature.
  2. construct coherent arguments which demonstrate an awareness of the problems posed by the texts/ issues which they are studying.
  3. demonstrate a high level of expression in both written and oral presentations.
  4. demonstrate the mastery of relevant technical terminology and research methods.
  5. demonstrate autonomy and initiative in their activities, carry out independent research under the guidance of the tutor, and to show awareness of their own and others' roles and responsibilities as part of a team. - offer alternative perspectives, identify and accommodate ambiguities and show an awareness of nuance.
Reading List
Indicative Bibliography
In addition to the list of Primary texts and General secondary reading, tutors may provide individual bibliographies for each unit on the option.

Recommended Reading
Apter, T. E., Fantasy literature: an approach to reality (London: Macmillan, 1982)
Cornwell, Neil, The Literary Fantastic: From Gothic to Postmodernism (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990).
Jackson, Rosemary, Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion (London: Methuen, 1981).
Todorov, Tzvetan, Introduction à la littérature fantastique (Paris: Seuil, 1970)/ The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre (Cornell Uni Press, 1975).

Further Reading
Alonso, Carlos J., ed., Julio Cortázar: New Readings (CUP, 1998)
Apter, T. E., Fantasy literature: an approach to reality (London: Macmillan, 1982)
Armitt, Lucy, Theorising the Fantastic (London: Arnold, 1996).
Bioy Casares, Adolfo, La invención de Morel / The Invention of Morel (Penguin, 1996/ NYRB Classics, 2003)
Booker, M. Keith, The Dystopian Impulse in Modern Literature: Fiction as Social Criticism (Portsmouth, NH: Greenwood Press, 1994).
Borges, Jorge Luis, Adolfo Bioy Casares and Silvina Ocampo, Antología de la literatura fantástica / The Book of Fantasy (Sudamericana, 2003 / Carroll and Graf, 1990)
Brooke-Rose, Christine, A Rhetoric of the Unreal: Studies in Narrative and Structure, Especially of the Fantastic (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1981).
Brumal Revista de investigación sobre lo fantástico, « http://revistes.uab.cat/brumal/»*
Brumal Research journal on the fantastic*
*Chotiudompant, Suradech, ¿The Postmodern Fantastic: Towards a Dynamic Notion of Genre¿ Manusya, 4 (2001), 9 ¿23.
Clute, John, and John Grant, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (St Martin¿s Griffin, 1999)
Cornwell, Neil, The Literary Fantastic: From Gothic to Postmodernism (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990).
Cruz, Julia G., Lo neofantástico en Julio Cortázar (Madrid: Pliegos, 2003)
Twentieth-Century Fantasists: Essays on Culture, Society and Belief in Twentieth-Century Mythopoeic Literature, ed. by Kath Filmer (New York: St Martin¿s Press, 1992).
Del George, Dana, The Supernatural in Short Fiction of the Americas: The Other World in the New World (Greenwood, 2001)
Esteban, Angel (ed.), Miradas oblicuas en la narrativa latinoamericana contemporánea: límites de lo real, fronteras de lo fantástico (Madrid / Frankfurt: Iberoamericana / Vervuert, 2009)
Fishburn, Evelyn and Eduardo L. Ortiz, Science and the Creative Imagination in Latin America (London: ISA, 2005).
Germana, Monica, Scottish Women's Gothic and Fantastic Writing : Fiction since 1978 (Ed UP, 2012)
Jutta Emma Fortin, Method in Madness: Control Mechanisms in the French Fantastic (Rodopi, 2005)
Garcia, Patricia, Space and Postmodern Fantastic in Contemporary Literature: The Architectural Void, Routledge, NY and London, 2015. ISBN 978-1-138-82422-5.
Hume, Kathryn, Fantasy and Mimesis: Responses to Reality in Western Literature (NY: Methuen, 1984).
Hutton, Margaret-Anne, Redefining the real: the fantastic in contemporary French and Francophone women¿s writing (Oxford, [England] ; New York, N.Y. : Peter Lang, c2009)
Jackson, Rosemary, Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion (London: Methuen, 1981).
Kahn, Lauri Hutt, Vislumbrar la otredad: Los pasajes en la narrativa de Julio Cortázar (Peter Lang, 1996)
Klingenberg, Patricia N., Fantasies of the Feminine: The Short Stories of Silvina Ocampo (Lewisberg: Bucknell UP, 1999)
Labbé, Denis, and Gilbert Millet, Le fantastique (Paris: Ellipses, 2000).
Le fantastique argentin: Silvina Ocampo, Julio Cortázar, special issue of América: Cahiers du CRICCAL, 17 (Presses de la Sorbonne-nouvelle, 1997)
López Martín, Lola, Penumbra: antología crítica del cuento fantástico hispanoamericano del siglo XIX (Madrid: Lengua de Trapo, 2006)
Louis, A., 'Definiendo un género: La antología de la literatura fantástica de Silvina Ocampo, Adolfo Bioy Casares y Jorge Luis Borges', Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica 49:2 (2001), 409-37.
Matthews, Richard, Fantasy: The Liberation of Imagination (Routledge, 2002)
Monet-Viera, Molly, 'Strange Forces: Occultism and the Inauguration of the Fantastic Genre in Latin America', Romance Studies 19:2 (2001), 123-34
Nieto, Omar, Teoría general de lo fantástico. Del fantástico clásico al posmoderno, Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México, México D.F., 2015. ISBN: 978-607-7798-88-0.
Rabkin, Eric S., The Fantastic in Literature (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1971).
Rodero, Jesús, La edad de la incertidumbre: un estudio del cuento fantástico del siglo XX en Latinoamérica (NY; Oxford: Peter Lang, 2006)
Rodríguez-Luis, Julio, The Contemporary Praxis of the Fantastic: Borges and Cortázar (NY: Garland, 1991).
Sauble-Otto, ¿Writing to Exist: Humanity and Survival in Two fin de siècle Novels in French (Harpman, Darrieussecq), L¿esprit créateur, 45, 1 (Spring 2005), 59-66 (p. 59).
Saciuk, Olena H., ed., The Shape of the Fantastic: Selected Essays from the 7th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (NY: Greenwood, 1990).
Selnes, Gisle, ¿The Feminine (Ob)scene of Cruelty: On the Fantastic, its Genealogy and Margins¿, Orbis Litterarum, 63:6 (2008) 510-28
Silva-Cáceres, Raúl H., L'arbre aux figures: Étude des motifs fantastiques dans l'oeuvre de Julio Cortázar (Paris: L¿Harmattan, 1996)
Slusser, George Edgar, Eric S. Rabkin and Robert E Scholes, Bridges to Fantasy (Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1982).
Stavans, Ilan, Julio Cortázar: A Study of the Short Fiction (Twayne, 1996)
Sullivan, Ceri, ed., Writing and Fantasy (Longman, 1999).
Tcherepashenets, Nataly, Place and Displacements in the Narrative Worlds of Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar (Peter Lang, 2007)
Todorov, Tzvetan, Introduction à la littérature fantastique (Paris: Seuil, 1970)/ The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre (Cornell Uni Press, 1975).
Warner, Marina, Fantastic Metamorphoses (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002).
Whitehead, C. E., Critical Insights: The Fantastic (Massachussets: Salem Press, 2012).
Whitehead, C. E., The fantastic in France and Russia in the nineteeth century : in pursuit of hesitation (London : Legenda; 2006).
Yurkievich, Saúl, Julio Cortázar, mundos y modos (Buenos Aires: Edhasa, 2004)
Special issue on the Fantastic in Forum for Modern Language Studies, ed. C Whitehead (October 2008).
Special issue on Fantasy in Contemporary French and Francophone Studies, Volume 15, Issue 2, 2011.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsFanFi
Contacts
Course organiserDr Susan Bainbrigge
Tel: (0131 6)50 8417
Email: Susan.Bainbrigge@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Hope Hamilton
Tel: (0131 6)50 4167
Email: hope.hamilton@ed.ac.uk
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