autumn 2020 ENG-2131 Short Fiction in English - 10 ECTS

Application deadline

Applicants from Nordic countries: 1 June for courses offered in the autumn semester and 1 December for courses offered in the spring semester.

Exchange students and Fulbright students: 15 April for courses offered in the autumn semester and 1 October for courses offered in the spring semester.


Type of course

This course may be taken as a single course. A good command of oral and written English is recommended.

Admission requirements

Higher Education Entrance Qualification (generell studiekompetanse) or prior learning and work experience (realkompetanse).

A good command of oral and written English is recommended.

Application code: 9199 - Enkeltemner (ikke realfag), lavere grad (Nordic applicants).


Course overlap

If you pass the examination in this course, you will get an reduction in credits (as stated below), if you previously have passed the following courses:

ENG-3106 Short Fiction in English 10 stp

Course content

In this course we will explore short fiction as a literary form. This includes examining the boundaries of the genre and its literary historical development, as well as interpreting short fiction through various formal, ideological and thematic lenses. The main emphasis in autumn 2020 will be on modernist experiments with the genre, postcolonial short fiction and contemporary short fiction, including the most recent developments. In analysing a range of different writers and styles, we will pay close attention to the representations of gender, class, ethnicity and race, and ask whether any experiences and/or identities seem to lend themselves particularly well to the short story form.

Objectives of the course

The students have the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

  • The student has a thorough understanding of the required primary texts and knows how to relate them to the relevant literary historical contexts and critical perspectives.
  • The student has a good knowledge of how chosen literary historical, social and cultural contexts have shaped the development of the short story genre.
  • The student shows a good understanding of some aspects of short fiction theory and is able to relate them to the analysed texts.

Skills 

  • The student can analyse chosen formal, stylistic and thematic features of the required primary texts using relevant theoretical concepts in a precise manner.
  • The student can articulate clear insights about some important developments of the short story genre.
  • The student can present their ideas in a clear, coherent manner and support them with close readings of the texts. 
  • The student can incorporate secondary sources into their written work and cite the sources correctly.
  • The student can use academic English confidently, in both spoken and written form.


Language of instruction and examination

Language of instruction and examination: English.

Teaching methods

13 weeks of teaching and academic supervision. Teaching will take the form of lectures and seminars. 

Assessment

Coursework requirements

Each student must:

  • hand in an academic blog of 1200-1500 words and write a response to another student’s post (about 200 words).
  • hand in a draft of the term paper (about 4-5 pages; 1.5 spacing, font size 12). 

The coursework requirements must be approved before the student can take the final exam.

Exam

Term paper (8-10 pages; 1.5 line spacing, font size 12).

Performance in the course will be assessed on a graded scale of five marks from A to E for pass and F for fail. A re-sit examination is offered in the event of F/fail. The deadline to register (in the Studentweb) for the re-sit examination is 15 January (for courses offered in the autumn semester) and 15 August (for courses offered in the spring semester). In the event of a re-sit examination, the student is allowed to submit a revised version of his/her term paper within a given deadline.


  • About the course
  • Campus: Tromsø |
  • ECTS: 10
  • Course code: ENG-2131