Undergraduate Course: The Unreliable Narrator (LLLG07055)
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 (OLL); ONLY STUDENTS REGISTERED WITH OLL SHOULD BE ENROLLED.
Wayne C. Booth first identified the difference between a reliable and unreliable narrator as part of his reader-centred approach to critical thinking in the 1960s. The unreliable narrator has, however, been around for a great deal longer than that in literature. We will study a number of examples of the unreliable narrator from a number of different genres such as the realist novel, the ghost novel and a novel where it is unclear whether the narrator is sane or not. Our discussions will turn on how the reader builds a relationship with an unreliable narrator and whether or not our bond of trust with our touchstone in a novel is finally compromised by their unreliability. |
| Course description |
Week 1 and Week 2: Religion, the devil, madness and mayhem: A discussion of the intricacies of James Hogg's novel of trickery, Memoirs and Confessions.
Text: James Hogg: The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
Week 3 and Week 4: 'No, wait. I've got that wrong' (Frayn, Spies): A discussion of the naivety of the child narrator and its impact on events in the adult world.
Text: Michael Frayn: Spies
Week 5 and Week 6: 'This is the saddest story I have ever heard.' (Ford, The Good Soldier): A discussion of Ford's famously passionless narrator and his version of other people's passions.
Text: Ford Madox Ford: The Good Soldier
Week 7 and Week 8: The rational doctor and the ghost story: an exploration of Sarah Waters' rational doctor narrator and his engagement with the ghostly happenings at Hundreds Hall.
Text: Sarah Waters: The Little Stranger
Week 9 and Week 10: Chief Bromden, The Combine and Big Nurse: A discussion of Kesey's novel set in a mental hospital in which one of the patients is the novel's narrator.
Text: Ken Kesey: One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
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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;
* discuss the various ways in which authors use an unreliable narrator to inject suspense and offer alternative viewpoints on events.
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Reading List
Essential
Hogg, James 2010. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. Oxford: Oxford World's Classics.
Frayn, Michael 2002. Spies. London: Faber.
Ford, Ford Madox 2012. The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion. Oxford: Oxford World's Classics.
Kesey, Ken 2002. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Waters, Sarah 2009. The Little Stranger. London: Virago.
Recommended
Mullan, John 2008. How Novels Work. Oxford: OUP.
Booth, Wayne C., 1995. The Rhetoric of Fiction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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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 relevant secondary material.
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Anya Clayworth
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Sabine Murdoch
Tel: (0131 6)51 1855
Email: |
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