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

For academic year: 2024/25 Last Updated: 08 May 2024

ENG-30104 - High Culture: Drink, Drugs, and the American Dream
Coordinator: Oliver Harris Room: CBB1.053 Tel: +44 1782 7 33016
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 6
Credits: 15
Study Hours: 150
School Office: 01782 733147

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2024/25


Aims
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

1: Short Paper weighted 30%
1,000-word analysis of the representation of a sub- or counter-cultural use of an intoxicant in one text
Students focus on one text (novel or film) or make a comparative analysis in order to analyse the social, cultural, and political significance of the representation of a particular sub-or counter-cultural group's use of an intoxicant in relation to addiction, in 1000 words, including references and bibliography.

2: Essay weighted 70%
2,000 word essay based on second half of the module
2,000 word essay, including references, based on broader research into texts studied in the second half of the module with a specific requirement to relate visionary experience to aesthetic form.

Please note that for the 2022/23 Academic Year programmes may be adapted to operate in accordance with a flexible, digital approach. This means that there may be some changes made to how modules are delivered and assessed. The latest information will be provided to you by your School in module handbooks. We endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes and details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/student-terms-and-conditions/

Last Updated: 08 May 2024