The Age of Adolescence: Reading 20th Century Youth Culture (Q3287E)

15 credits, Level 4

Spring teaching

This module will explore representations of adolescence from the early 20th through to the early 21st century in theory, literature, film and popular culture. You’ll look at the ways in which the adolescent morphs into the teenage consumer in the 1950s in novels such as Colin MacInnes’s Absolute Beginners.

You’ll consider the adolescent as a site of cultural fantasy and cultural fears in relation to:

• class
• race
• gender
• sexuality.

You’ll also look at the adolescent’s relationship to:

• radical politics
• subculture
• utopia
• nostalgia.

You’ll use representations of the adolescent as a modern constructed identity to learn the skill of close reading and historical contextualisation in texts that range from Willa Cather to Spring Breakers.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 33 hours of contact time and about 117 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2026/27. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.