MA 21st Century Literature

This module aims to explore the continuing vitality of the short story in the present century via anthologies, single author collections, magazines and web-based writing. The very brevity of the form can allow for an extensive view of recent writing in terms of theme, style, geographical range and genre.
The module begins with problems of definition: is the short story, as some critics have claimed, a relatively recent literary genre, developed in the nineteenth century by writers such as Chekhov and Poe, or is it as old as the folk tale or fable, with roots in popular oral traditions?
Equally important is the question of whether the short story should be regarded as the place where novelists learn their craft or as a creative destination in its own right. These and related questions of form and content are then explored through a series of detailed studies of thematic variety, generic multiplicity, regional claims, formulaic constraints and experimentation.
Above all the module aims to encourage student engagement with a living and rapidly evolving form open to a wide range of theoretical approaches and, importantly, an abiding source of reading pleasure.
Contemporary American Fiction (Option)
This module offers an opportunity to engage with American fiction and some of its socio-historical, political and ideological contexts from the late 1990s to the present day. An initial concern is to examine critical distinctions between ‘canonical/literary’ texts and so-called ‘popular’ genres. The module explores aspects of canon-formation in American fiction, and examines a selection of texts by both new and established writers, in some cases at the point where they are first published in paperback.
The module will be contextualised by an examination of the ‘Great American Novel’ in the run-up to the millennium, considering the importance of the short story in American fiction, and exploring the impact of recent key events. The module will take a thematic approach, locating American cultural production in regional, national and global contexts, with a particular emphasis on writing in the 21st Century. Authors studied include Marilynne Robinson, Philip Roth, Anne Tyler, Lionel Shriver and Cormac McCarthy.
English Now 1: Poetry and Drama
The principal focus of the this module will be on poetry and drama written since 2000. The poetry section will aim to effectively be the introduction to the course. In each seminar the module will be reading two or three contemporary poems: over the six weeks a small sample of British and Irish poetry since 2000 will be covered, but it is not a survey.