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.

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

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:
15% scheduled learning and teaching activities
85% guided independent learning

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.

1. DEMONSTRATE DETAILED AND COHERENT KNOWLEDGE OF SOME OF THE KEY ISSUES AND DEBATES IN THE STUDY OF MAGICAL REALIST LITERATURE.
Knowledge & Understanding

2. DEMONSTRATE SKILLS OF ENQUIRY AND ANALYSIS IN RELATION TO MAGICAL REALIST LITERATURE.
Analysis

3. APPLY THEORETICAL SECONDARY MATERIAL.
Learning

4. DEMONSTRATE AN ABILITY TO ARTICULATE CRITICAL IDEAS IN RELATION TO MAGICAL REALIST LITERATURE.
Communication

A mid-semester essay, 1000 words weighted at 25% [Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4]

An end of course essay: essay on one primary text, 2000 words weighted at 75% [Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4]
OR A short story in the magical realist style, 2,000 words [Learning Outcomes 1,2,3].
OR a collection of poetry in the magical realist style (4 pages), [Learning Outcomes 1,2,3].