Reading in the Present

• • • Literary and critical theories.
  • • Methods of literary analysis.
  • • Interpretative practices.
  • • History of criticism.
  • • Hermeneutics.

Others

Pre-requisite: Student must have completed 60 credit points at Level two.

Additional requirements

No additional requirements

Reading never comes naturally. It is instead a complex practice that requires many different skills and capabilities. This is particularly the case for literary studies, the discipline that takes reading as its fundamental methodology. How should we read today? What methods are available to guide the construction of meaning from a text? This subject charts new directions in reading. It surveys contemporary theories that give an account of how and why we might go about making sense of the written word. It considers reading surfaces and depths, reading closely and distantly, reading critically and reading with feeling, reading historically and transculturally, reading at global scales and reading in local frameworks. Throughout the subject, the emphasis falls on reading as a creative act. Students will be equipped with a repertoire of practical skills for devising original, compelling and insightful readings of any text they might encounter. And they will be trained in cutting-edge developments in this core method of knowledge production in the humanities.

• One 2000-word essay. (50%)
• Early short answer exercise (1000 word equivalent) (25%)
• Second short answer exercise (1000 word equivalent) (25%)

For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).