Coursework to a total of 2500 words: two pieces, weighted 30% and 70%

A short essay analysing one of the texts (800 words) [Learning Outcome 2]
An essay (1700 words) [Learning Outcomes 1, 3, and 4]

The aim of this module is to explore postmodernity through a reading of American and British literature from 1960-present. The module will provide students with a theoretical and historical overview of this period and will introduce them to key related concepts and theories, including globalisation and consumerism. It will also explore the relationship between American and British literature and culture, raising questions about how to define the Transatlantic, examining how texts project and define a sense of cultural geography. During the course students will be encouraged to think about a number of themes, including the question of how to define the postmodern; how to historicise the postmodern and its relevance to contemporary literature and culture. Authors might include: Jean Baudrillard, Thomas Pynchon, Umberto Ecco, Martin Amis and Angela Carter.

There will be a programme of lectures/workshops and seminars related to the texts selected for study; the programme will be illustrated, where appropriate, by film and music extracts. It will be the intention to engage students with the transatlantic, political, historical and cultural contexts related to the literature of the period, and to that end, discussion will be guided partly by student-led presentation of recent debates into (for example) the treatment in literature of controversial race- and gender-related topics.

Library
Internet
VTR and DVD playback

Hans Bertens, The Idea of the Postmodern (Routledge, 1994)
Tim Woods, Beginning Postmodernism (Manchester UP, 1999)
F. Jameson Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (Verso, 1991)