ENG-30106 - Module Specification
School of Humanities
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2024/25

On this module students will explore the characters and the functions of detectives in literary texts, visual art and film. They will analyse the ways in which detectives have acted as mappers of cities and in so doing revealed geographical, demographic and economic changes in urban spaces over time. They will look intersectionally at race, gender and class in detective stories. Additionally, students will discuss the ways in which detectives - analysing evidence, reconstructing past events, creating narratives - carry out much the same kinds of work as literary and cultural critics.

- to analyse and discuss the relationship between the detective and the city across a number of cultural fields: literature, visual art and film;
- to treat the detective as a figure which reflects economic, demographic, cultural and political changes in American cities, and anxieties about
identity and status attending those changes;
- to pay close attention to the detective as a peculiarly reflexive figure, someone who, in his or her quest to reconstruct plot and deliver explanation, reflects the processes both of the reader and the writer;
- to discuss not only traditional detectives, but also broader theoretical issues of reading, spectatorship and criticism which will be of value to
students in their further literary studies.

Intended Learning Outcomes

describe and evaluate basic features of multi-disciplinary scholarship (literary, historical and/or political) relating to study of the United States: 1,2
analyse and interpret a range of primary and secondary written and/or visual sources: 1,2
make coherent arguments based on evidence and analysis orally and in writing
: 1,2
relate textual analysis to social, cultural and historical contexts: 1,2
carry out research using a range of textual and electronic resources: 1,2
employ the basic bibliographical, referencing, and presentation requirements of the core disciplines: 1,2
analyse features of the social, historical, and political identity of the United States: 1,2

Study hours

1-hour weekly workshops + 2-hour weekly seminars= 36 hours; 50 hours tutorial and seminar preparation, including discussion threads; 64 hours assessment preparation.

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment