English and drama

Writing the Environment

Module code: Q3164
Level 6
30 credits in autumn semester
Teaching method: Workshop, Seminar
Assessment modes: Coursework

This module aims to look at a range of literary works from Beckett's Endgame (1958) up to the present, with particular attention to how questions of the environment are explored in literature. It is envisaged that there will be a creative writing element within the module, developing around a so-called field trip to a place of local interest (e.g. the new incinerator at Newhaven).

Module learning outcomes

• Develop a fuller critical knowledge and awareness of the inextricable relations between literature and the environment.
• Develop an enhanced understanding and appreciation of specific literary works in the context of contemporary environmental questions and problems.
• Acquire a wider and more refined critical and conceptual vocabulary for the analysis and interrogation of contemporary literature, and of more traditional forms of literary criticism, from an ecological perspective.
• Gain a greater critical understanding of the possibilities of 'English' as a university discipline apropos the local as well as more global environment in which it is taught and studied.
• Develop a richer understanding and appreciation of the possibilities of creative writing vis-a-vis ecology and the environment.