ENG-30110 - 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

Ageing is represented as one of the grand demographic challenges of our time. This challenge took shape in the earliest part of the twentieth century, where this module begins. Using literary (novelistic) and other kinds of narrative, the module asks: what has it felt like to age in society, in different places, amidst different social relationships, at different times? How have older people been treated and represented? Is cognitive and physical decline an inevitable part of ageing, and how has literature challenged this idea? How is cognitive decline (dementia, for example) represented? How does gerontology seek to challenge stereotypes of old age and, indeed, improve the experience of ageing itself?

To introduce students to the relationship between literature, ageing, and identity via an in-depth examination of key narratives (fictional and non-fictional) from the period 1908-2018
To relate these narratives to key social, cultural and demographic contexts, and key theoretical debates including in social and cultural gerontology
To reflect on ageing and identity as a diverse experience from the point of view gender, class, and ethnicity
To reflect on these learning experiences in ways that link literary analysis and insight with real-world challenges and opportunities posed by ageing

Intended Learning Outcomes

Assess critically the relationship between ageing and literature through narrative, one of the key vehicles for interdisciplinary inquiry in ageing studies: 1,2
Present effective close analysis of the relationship between literary narratives about ageing, and other narrative discourses (i.e. policy, reports, social inquiries, memoirs) organised by narrative: 1,2
Demonstrate the research skills appropriate to advanced undergraduate study in the Humanities, and the ability to sustain an argument in written work: 1,2
Plan, research, and produce work within the limitations of time and resources available: 1,2
Assimilate, synthesise and assess major critical approaches to literature and ageing, in particular discussions of authorship, genre, culture (including cultures of care), gender, sexuality, class, race and nation: 1,2
Demonstrate an understanding of the political and institutional questions arising from the relationships between literary and other discourses on ageing (including questions of audience, purpose, evaluation, impact): 1,2

Study hours

24 hours seminars
12 hours workshops
54 hours seminar preparation (heavy reading load)
60 hours assessment preparation

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment