Vår 2023

ENG-3122 The Novel after the Death of the Novel - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for språk og kultur

Type of course

This course is intended for students in the master's programme in English literature and students in the master's programme in education year 8-13 (lektorutdanninga, studieretning engelsk). This course may be taken as a single course by students who qualify for admission to the MA programme in English Literature.

This course fulfils the Studies in genre requirement for the MA in English literature.

Course contents

The course will look at a number of novels that thematize the difficulty of writing novels after modernism and will question the relevance of the genre in contemporary literary discourse. Is the novel still a powerful literary form in the 21st century, or has it run its course? What are its defining conventions? The discussion will focus on current philosophical issues, such as the possibility of portraying subjective experience, the novel's Eurocentric past and the novel's shifting generic boundaries.

Application deadline

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

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

Admission requirements

Bachelor's degree (180 ECTS), or equivalent qualification, in English literature, or a degree combining English literature and a closely-related discipline (minimum 80 ECTS in English). An average grade equivalent to C or better in the English coursework (80 ECTS) is required.

Application code: 9371 - Enkeltemner på masternivå (Nordic applicants).

Objective of the course

The students have the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

The student has:

Students will learn and become proficient in the primary and secondary texts assigned for the course.
Students will gain knowledge of crucial concepts in postmodern and contemporary narrative poetics.
Students will learn about the state of the novel in relation to the history of the genre.

Skills

The student is able to / can:

Students will demonstrate an ability to analyse complex literary texts both orally and in writing.
Students will demonstrate their ability to engage critically with theoretical and philosophical concepts, such as paranoid hermeneutics, paratextuality, metafiction.
Students will be able to incorporate secondary sources into their final paper.

Language of instruction

Language of instruction and examination: English.

Teaching methods

The course will be taught over thirteen weeks of two-hour seminar meetings. There will be teaching-free periods for academic supervision.

Quality assurance: All courses undergo a halfway evaluation once in a 2-year period at the master`s level. The Programme Board determines which programme options will be evaluated per year, and which courses will be evaluated by the students and the teacher per year.

Date for examination

Assignment hand in date 31.05.2023

The date for the exam can be changed. The final date will be announced at your faculty early in May and early in November.