Module Catalogue 2024/25

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

This module will chart the development of a distinctive cultural imaginary in the North East of England from 1900 to the present, through study of its novels, poems, plays, films and political writings.

The North East is one of the historic birthplaces of literacy in the British Isles, though it has also often been marginalised from the centralised culture of the English literary establishment. This module will explore the fate of North East writing (in the broadest sense) from the post-Victorian era to the twenty-first century, a time when the region's slow industrial decline was offset by a series of experiments in imaginative idealism, energetic realism and countercultural eccentricity.

We will try to assess whether the modern history of North East cultural production offers any clues as to how the region and its people might move forward in the socially, environmentally and constitutionally vexed climate of the twenty-first century. We will also try to work out how such subjects affect our own status as temporary, putative or permanent citizens of Newcastle and its environs.

NB: For the purposes of this module, "the North East of England" is defined as the historic counties of Northumberland (plus Newcastle/Tyneside), County Durham (including modern Wearside and parts of modern Teesside) and the Teesside portion of Yorkshire (i.e. Middlesbrough and its environs).

Outline Of Syllabus

Authors for study may include Pat Barker, Basil Bunting, Peter Flannery, Lee Hall, Jessica Andrews, Barry MacSweeney, Richard Dawson and Jack Common, and topics of study may include suffragism, the stereotype of the kitchen-sink writer, de- and post-industrialisation, the Miners’ Strike, the Northumbrian Weird, the multi-racial experiment of World Headquarters nightclub, Viz magazine, the North-East millennial novel and the poetic counterculture of 1960s Newcastle.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

On completion of the module, students will have:

Developed understanding of a diverse range of North East writing produced between 1900 and the present.

Gained awareness of the modern history of the North East and how it has related to the development of the region's culture throughout this period.

Become acquainted with historic and contemporary debates about regionalism and regional inequality and their role in discussions of nationalism, imperialism and national identity.

Begun to think about how study of modern North East culture impacts on our relationship with our civic surroundings.

Become familiar with ways in which the political and aesthetic can intersect in analysis of North East texts.

Intended Skill Outcomes

By the end of the module, students will be able to:

Analyse post-1900 North East texts from a variety of critical perspectives.

Appreciate the richness and diversity of North East writing through close attention to its literary minutiae.

Consider the intersection of salient political and ideological debates (notably those surrounding class, regional inequality and nationalism) with cultural production in the North East.

Compare and contrast divergent, contradictory and problematic aspects of modern North East writing.

Use the cultural history of the North East to assess the place of the region and its people in contemporary national and international society.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The lectures introduce students to textual, biographical and critical debates surrounding texts, providing introductory readings of relevant poems, crucial pieces of information and an overall map to guide students in their independent study. The seminars build on the lectures, independent study and study group discussions, allowing students to reflect on their reading in a participatory group environment and hone their analytical skills by way of group close reading exercises.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The 4000-word essay encourages students to secure their knowledge and skills outcomes as outlined above, by way of a comparative reading of two or more primary texts.

The formative assessment will consist of a form of draft material (for example a detailed plan, draft or essay introduction); it will prepare students for the long final essay and allow them to receive feedback on their ideas as they are gestating.

General Notes

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