Undergraduate Course: Booker Prize Novels 4 (LLLG07057)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 7 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | THIS IS A FOR-CREDIT COURSE OFFERED BY THE OFFICE OF LIFELONG LEARNING; ONLY STUDENTS REGISTERED WITH OLL SHOULD BE ENROLLED.
The Booker Prize is awarded annually for the best full-length novel written in English by a citizen of the UK, Commonwealth, Eire, Pakistan or South Africa. This course will look at winners of this prestigious literary prize and evaluate the merit of judging literature in this way. The Booker winners list presents a unique opportunity to explore the breadth and variety of literature from 1969 to the present. We consider popular winners such as Peter Carey's The True History of the Kelly Gang as well as controversial winners like James Kelman's stream of consciousness novel, How late it was, how late. |
| Course description |
Week 1 and Week 2: The great Australian novel: Peter Carey's fictional autobiography of Ned Kelly.
Text: Peter Carey: The True History of the Kelly Gang
Week 3 and Week 4: 'Schindler was fortunate that he met people who had summoned forth his deeper talents': Schindler's Ark or is it Schindler's List?
Text: Thomas Keneally: Schindler's Ark
Week 5 and Week 6: 'A wonderful comedy of manners': Possession, the lovers and the academics.
Text: A. S. Byatt: Possession
Week 7 and Week 8: 'It is merely the transcription of the rambling thoughts of a blind Glaswegian drunk': Kelman's controversial winner.
Text: James Kelman: How late it was, how late
Week 9 and Week 10: 'I had wanted life not to bother me too much, and succeeded - and how pitiful that was': Julian Barnes considers the past
Text: Julian Barnes: The Sense of an Ending
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
* discuss texts confidently;
* assess literature based, to a certain extent, on their own close reading;
* place literature in its historical context;
* explain various issues which affect the awarding of literary prizes.
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Reading List
Essential
Barnes, Julian 2012. The Sense of an Ending. London: Vintage.
Byatt, A. S., 2009. Possession. London: Vintage.
Carey, Peter 1998. How late it was, how late. London: Vintage.
Keneally, Thomas 2006. Schindler's Ark. London: Sceptre.
Recommended
Mullan, John 2008. How Novels Work. Oxford: OUP.
Taylor, Jonathan 2003. The Man Booker Prize: 35 years of the best in contemporary fiction. London: The Booker Prize Foundation.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
* Close critical reading of passages from texts.
* Small group working.
* Setting literature in historical, social and political context.
* Advance preparation of material for class including work for essays and class discussion.
* Wide reading. Students will be encouraged to work around the subject by reading other Booker Prize texts and relevant secondary material.
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Rachael King
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Marie Craft
Tel: (0131 6)50 3943
Email: |
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