Undergraduate - UnitATS1904 - Reading the city: Literary genres

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2013 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

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Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	English
Offered	Caulfield Second semester 2013 (Day) Clayton Second semester 2013 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr. Chris Worth

Synopsis

This unit introduces students to the important notion of literary forms and genres which provides a complementary way of approaching literature to the previous semester's unit. In this unit, students will be encouraged to explore the concept of a literary text by analysing and studying a range of modes including the short story, short prose fiction, poetry, intergeneric writing and the concept of orality and textuality. The theme that the texts will engage with is that of Writing the City which includes texts from different historical periods and cultures.

Outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

Understand and appreciate the role of genre in literary studies;
Link literary studies with the history of ideas, modernity, national and transnational cultural identities;
Understand the ways in which literature engages with broader cultural and historical contexts;
Understand how literary forms and genres have evolved and changed over time;
Demonstrate discipline-specific written and oral skills;
Demonstrate the ability to analyse literary texts and use them to engage critically with the theme of writing the city;
Demonstrate some theoretical awareness and research skills in analysing literary texts.

Assessment

Close reading exercise (450 words): 10%
Class exercises and participation (900 words): 20%
Research Essay (1300 words): 30%
Examination (2 hours, 1800 words): 40%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr. Chris Worth

Contact hours

Two one-hour lectures per week
One one-hour tutorial per week

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Comparative literature and cultural studies
Creative writing
English
Literary studies (Creative writing, Literatures in English)