ENG-30104 - Module Specification
School of Humanities
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2023/24

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2023/24

Is there such a thing as "drug writing" and if so, is it marginal to mainstream culture, or essential to it? How do literary works and films represent drugs of addiction and drugs of visionary experience not just as a content but through their very form?
The module aims to study the social, cultural, psychological, medical, philosophical, and aesthetic dimensions of works dealing with three decades of American history that are concerned with a range of intoxicants - alcohol, heroin, LSD, and peyote.
Rather than taking a biographical approach (which might, for example, focus on the role of drink in the writing of the Lost Generation), the module focuses on representations of individuals or groups involved in sub- and counter-cultural use of mind-altering and/or addictive substances. The first half of the module focuses on addiction, the second half on visionary drug experience, and the written assessments can be either theory or text based but will require some element of both.
The emphasis on studying formal features of texts also includes comparative analysis of Hollywood adaptations and films. The module is suitable for those who have already studied literature although experience of studying film would be an advantage.
Students will be expected to read widely for the research-based long essay.

The module aims to study the social, cultural, psychological, medical, philosophical, and aesthetic dimensions of works dealing with three decades of American history that are concerned with a range of intoxicants - alcohol, heroin, LSD, and peyote.
It also aims to develop advanced level analysis of literary texts in relation to American wartime and post-war culture, including film, with a particular emphasis on how aesthetic form expresses visionary experience.

Intended Learning Outcomes

situate sub- and counter-cultural groups to broader social, psychological, medical, philosophical, and cultural issues in wartime and postwar American culture: 1,2
critically analyse the aesthetic dimensions of a range of textual representations to an advanced level: 1,2
relate literary and filmic representations to wartime and postwar American culture to an advanced level: 1,2

Study hours

36 hours teaching, comprising: 11 x 2-hour seminars + 2 x 2 hour lectures + 10 x 1 hour workshops. 114 hours independent study, comprising: 34 hour seminar preparation; 30 hours Short Paper preparation; 50 hours long essay preparation.

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment