The languages of fiction
P Groves
6 points * 3 hours per week * Second semester * Clayton * Prerequisites: ENH1030 or ENH1010
The aim of ENH1040 is to extend the student's familiarity with the working of language in literary (and other) texts. The focus of the subject will be twofold: both on the kinds of language used in fictive texts, and on the ways in which texts themselves encode narrative structures (the `languages' of narrative). The subject will commence with a study of the grammatical structure of English, and go on to examine the ways in which such structures - and choices among them - function to produce different kinds of stylistic effects in prose (specifically fictional) texts. The second half of the subject will involve study of the structures of narrative in the light of different theories of narratology (including feminist and reader-response theories). In parallel with their theoretical study students will apply their understanding of syntax and narratology to the detailed analysis of a number of fictional texts, including a Chaucer tale, novels by Dickens, James and Woolf, and a number of short stories.
Assessment
Exercise (800 words): 10% * Essay (1200 words): 20% * Class tests: 20% * Examination (2 hours): 50%
Prescribed texts
Chaucer G Prologue and three tales ed. F King and B Steele Longman Cheshire
Cochrane J (ed.) The Penguin book of American short stories Penguin
Dickens C Great expectations Penguin
James H The turn of the screw Norton
Leech G and others English grammar for today Macmillan
Woolf V Mrs Dalloway Penguin