Module Descriptors
MAGICAL REALISM: FROM FLYING CARPETS TO URBAN ANGELS
ENGL50434
Key Facts
Faculty of Arts and Creative Technologies
Level 5
30 credits
Contact
Leader: Melanie Ebdon
Email: M.D.Ebdon@staffs.ac.uk
Hours of Study
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities: 72
Independent Study Hours: 228
Total Learning Hours: 300
Assessment
- COURSEWORK -ESSAY weighted at 25%
- COURSEWORK - SECOND ESSAY weighted at 75%
Module Details
Module Resources
PC Projector
Video/DVD
Library
Internet
The Blackboard virtual learning environment will be available (where relevant) to support this module. Details will be supplied in the module handbook.
Video/DVD
Library
Internet
The Blackboard virtual learning environment will be available (where relevant) to support this module. Details will be supplied in the module handbook.
Module Learning Strategies
Contact teaching will be a mix of of lecture, workshop and small group discussion. Students will be expected to work both independently (on research and preparation for both classes and assessments) and as part of a team (on some class exercises and presentation work).
Key Information Set:
10% scheduled learning and teaching activities
90% guided independent learning
Key Information Set:
10% scheduled learning and teaching activities
90% guided independent learning
Module Indicative Content
This module surveys the development of the magical realist novel throughout the late twentieth century and into the twenty-first. In doing so, it traces emergent voices from political positions which are marginalised in Western society: voices which must alter the standard realist contract in order to express their difference from hegemony. Through a study of this literary style, we will debate issues relating to gender, 'race', ethnicity, postcolonialism, nationality and class. In addition, we will keep a steady focus on postmodernity and its implications for the traditional realist novel, thus maintaining a strong theoretical and philosophical bent to this module.
Module Additional Assessment Details
Mid-semester essay: (Essay of 2,000 words, 25%) [Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4]
End of course essay: essay on one primary text (Essay of 3,000 words, 75%) [Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4]
The text discussed in the first essay may not be written about in the final essay.
Key Information Set:
100% coursework
End of course essay: essay on one primary text (Essay of 3,000 words, 75%) [Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4]
The text discussed in the first essay may not be written about in the final essay.
Key Information Set:
100% coursework
Module Texts
Examples of texts (which may vary)
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1967)
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (1981)
Nights at the Circus - Angela Carter (1984)
The Hundred Secret Senses - Amy Tan (1995)
Venus as a Boy - Luke Sutherland (2004)
Selected Secondary Material
Faris, W.B. and L.P. Zamora eds. (1995) Magical Realism: Theory, History. Community. London: Duke U.P.
Bowers, Maggie Ann (2004) Magic(al) Realism. London: Routledge.
Mendoza, P.A. (1983) The Fragrance of Guava: conversations with Gabriel Garcia Marquez. London: Faber and Faber
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1967)
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (1981)
Nights at the Circus - Angela Carter (1984)
The Hundred Secret Senses - Amy Tan (1995)
Venus as a Boy - Luke Sutherland (2004)
Selected Secondary Material
Faris, W.B. and L.P. Zamora eds. (1995) Magical Realism: Theory, History. Community. London: Duke U.P.
Bowers, Maggie Ann (2004) Magic(al) Realism. London: Routledge.
Mendoza, P.A. (1983) The Fragrance of Guava: conversations with Gabriel Garcia Marquez. London: Faber and Faber