English Studies

G R A D U A T E D E G R E E P R O G R A M M E : E N G L I S H S T U D I E S
Type of course
Level of course
Seminar / Advisory hours
Elective course
Advanced
Year of study First Semester Two and/or Three
ECTS
(Number of
credits allocated)
Name of lecturer
Learning
outcomes and
competences
3 ECTS
Contact hours (25 seminars + 5 advisory hours) = 0.75 credits.
Student study time (67.5 hours) = 2.25 credits.
Simon Ryle, MA, Assistant
Students will improve their knowledge of poetic and prose fiction forms of
English.
By attention to the concentrated web of referential signs employed in poetic
and fictive forms of English, students will improve their ability to use
precisely and effectively these forms.
Students will develop subtle critical faculties with regard to the aesthetic
and technical aspects of poetic and prose fiction forms of English, and
acquire appropriate techniques of applying critical commentary to poetic
and fictive forms of English produced by their peers.
Prerequisites Completion of the third year undergraduate study programme.
Overall English language competence at C2 level. Adequate motivation.
Course contents As classes will be a workshop-style discussion of student-produced creative
work, the course contents will have to adapt in exact formulation to the
specific requirements of this student creative work. A certain flexibility will
be required in critical sessions — to understand the goals of a text, and
apply its own internal laws to its evaluation. Critical discussion will centre
on technical and aesthetic aspects of the writing process, rather than
questions of genre and issues of literary criticism.
In poetry sessions, students will be asked to consider, over rhythm and
rhyme schemes, the descriptive and emotive power and subtlety of the
images they construct, the exact expression of the interweaving of narrative,
sensory, and emotional motifs. The concentration and precision of poetical
language will be emphasised.
In prose fiction sessions, students will be asked to consider the concise
building of a world in cogently applied details, the subtle psychological
construction of protagonist and supporting cast, the non-sensational (unless
this works as conscious feature of the piece) invention and laying-out of
plot, and the pace and tone of narrative voice.
An example of a technical concern could be the application of metaphor: the
need for precision and the balanced consistency of subsequent metaphorical
expressions will be emphasised. Students will be expected to avoid clichés
and hackneyed, tired uses of metaphorical language, to reformulate and look
for new ways of saying. Critical awareness of this will be introduced in
seminar discussions of illustrative texts, and students will be expected to
later apply such ideas flexibly and naturally during the discussion of peer
work.
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