Literature on the IFP
In Semester 1 your module is Introduction to English Literature and in Semester 2 the focus moves across the Atlantic when you do Introduction to American Literature. Both modules have the objective of developing textual analysis skills within different literary forms and styles.
Why do this subject?
Literature on the IFP is intended for students who enjoy reading literature in English and who are highly analytical in their approach to reading. It will appeal to you if who are able to analyse character, theme, and language, and to compare the different ways these construct textual meaning in the novels and stories studied. It will suit you if you have strong essay writing skills and enjoy discussing your interpretations and analyses of literature. The critical thinking skills developed while studying this subject will be especially useful for you if you intend to study degree subjects that require high levels of academic reading and writing competence, with analytical depth and clarity, such as (in addition to Literature itself) Law, International Relations, Politics, History, and Film Studies.
What do you study?
Introduction to English Literature provides an introduction to some of the most important British writers, novels, short stories and poetry from mid nineteenth to mid twentieth century, including works by Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Robert Louis Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, T.S. Eliot, Ford Maddox Ford, Jean Rhys, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, L.P. Hartley and J.G. Ballard. Introduction to American Literature focuses on the twentieth-century American short story, including stories by Sherwood Anderson, Ernest Hemingway, Edith Wharton, Dorothy Parker, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Richard Wright, Tennessee Williams, John Cheever, Richard Yates, Joyce Carol Oates, Grace Paley, Alice Walker, Raymond Carver, Jayne Anne Phillips, Ann Beattie, Don DeLillo, A.M. Homes, Lorrie Moore and Eric Puchner and early to late twentieth-century fiction including novels by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nathanael West, Carson McCullers, J.D. Salinger,Saul Bellow, John Updike, Jay McInerney, Bret Easton Ellis, Anne Tyler and E. Annie Proulx.
How are you taught?
You are taught through a combination of lectures and seminars, and there is a strong emphasis on the development of academic communication skills and analytical thinking applied to the texts.
How are you assessed?
You are assessed through a combination of coursework and written exams. Coursework includes a portfolio and two essays.
Who teaches this subject?
The module is taught by Dr Peter Latham. In addition to postgraduate teaching qualifications and a first degree in Sociology, Peter holds an MA in Applied Linguistics and ELT from King's College, London, and and completed a PhD at University College London in 2016 on existentialism and American literature. The title of his thesis was Existential suburbia: The influence of Sartrean existentialism on US fiction of the suburbs from the 1960s to the end of the twentieth century.
What else should you know?
If you wish to take this subject, you must have an overall IELTS score of 6.5 or above (or equivalent) as literature on the IFP is linguistically demanding.
You are expected to do all the assigned reading and writing tasks prior to each lesson. Since classes generally consist of fewer than fifteen students, you will be required to contribute to seminars and to lead one seminar discussion.
No prior knowledge of the texts is assumed, but you should currently read literature in English extensively.
You are provided with booklets on both modules which contain the essential readings for this subject.
