Reading Now - ENG00029C
Module summary
This module prepares you for the study of literature and literary criticism at university level, introducing essential skills for reading, analysing, and writing about literature in English and related languages.
You will be provided with the key concepts and essential skills for literary analysis, including reading and analysing critical essays. You will learn the tools for reading, analysing, and writing about different forms and genres, including poetry, drama, prose, film, and works in translation. Your tutors will guide you through the various stages of close reading, critical thinking, research, and writing.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 1 2025-26 |
Module aims
This module aims to introduce students to the essential skills required for reading, analysing, and writing about literature and criticism, such as: close reading texts, developing a critical voice, writing an essay, and effective referencing. It will help to foster critical confidence, as students will analyse and discuss works from a wide variety of genres, forms, and historical periods. Through class discussion and team work, students will develop crucial collaborative skills.
Module learning outcomes
On successful completion of the module, you should be able to:
1. Demonstrate a basic understanding of and engagement with the study of literature and a range of essential skills for literary research.
2. Demonstrate a basic understanding of engagement with a range of literary genres, including poetry, drama, prose, and film.
3. Demonstrate a basic understanding of the study of literary criticism and critical writing.
4. Develop close readings and literary arguments which demonstrate university-level analysis, research, referencing, and writing skills.
5. Produce a portfolio of literary critical writing that demonstrates a range of analytical, writing, and referencing skills.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
- You will receive feedback on all assessed work within the University deadline, and will often receive it more quickly. The purpose of feedback is to inform your future work; it is provided in a pedagogical spirit, and the Department also offers you help in learning from your feedback.
- If you would like to discuss your feedback, please consult your tutor or your supervisor, during their Open Office Hours.
Indicative reading
Essential
This Thing Called Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing by Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle, 2nd Edition (London: Routledge, 2024)
Other essential texts from the module will include critical essays, poems, short stories, and extracts from plays and works of prose, including:
'Against Interpretation' by Susan Sontag
Double Indemnity, dir. Billy Wilder (1944)
'Girl' by Jamaica Kincaid
Hamlet by William Shakespeare [extract]
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen [extract]
'Resonance and Wonder' by Stephen Greenblatt
Poems by Elizabeth Bishop, Countee Cullen, Terrance Hayes, John Keats, Sappho, Sir Thomas Wyatt and others
'Sur' by Ursula K. LeGuin
The Book of Marvels and Travels by John Mandeville [extract]
'The Task of the Translator' by Walter Benjamin
This module will also utilise the Writing at York Writing Resources website.
Recommended
How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo (London: Atlantic Books, 2023)
Literary Theory by Terry Eagleton (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996)
Literary Theory and Criticism: An Oxford Guide by Patricia Waugh (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008)
The Edinburgh Introduction to Studying English Literature edited by Dermot Cavanagh et al (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014)
Thinking About Texts: An Introduction to English Studies by Chris Hopkins (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)