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ENG-20108 - Module Specification
School of Humanities
Faculty of Business, Law, Humanities & Social Sciences

For academic year: 2026/27 Last Updated: 17 March 2026

ENG-20108 - Cultures in Conflict: Victorian to Contemporary World Literature
Coordinator: David Amigoni Room: CBB1.038 Tel: +44 1782 7 33209
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 5
Credits: 30
Study Hours: 300
School Office: 01782 733147

Programme/Approved Electives for 2026/27

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

No

Barred Combinations

No

Description for 2026/27

This module expands your understanding of literature’s relation to History. You will study novels, poems, and plays from the Victorian period to the present, relating them to social, political and cultural contexts including class, race, gender and sexuality. You will be exposed to a range of literary styles and genres including realism, modernism, postmodernism and the postcolonial, extending your knowledge of different types of literature in preparation for the final year of your degree.

Aims
To analyse selected anglophone literature produced by a range of writers in different genres (such as fiction, poetry and drama) from the Victorian to contemporary period.
To engage with the key historical, political and philosophical contexts of the Victorian to contemporary period.
To develop knowledge of various critical frameworks (cultural and literary) such as feminist theory, postmodernism and postcolonialism, that have shaped understanding of the Victorian to contemporary period.
To examine the significance of different literary styles and genres during the Victorian to contemporary period.
To account for the importance of gender, class, sexual and racial identities in Victorian to contemporary literature.
To carry out contextualised close reading of literature of the Victorian to contemporary period.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Show sensitivity to the complexity of literary language and critical discourse: 1,2,3
Demonstrate research and planning skills and the ability to present that research effectively: 1,2,3
Employ skills in close analysis of form and content: 1,2,3
Demonstrate the ability to articulate arguments about literature of the period from the Victorians to the present: 1,2,3
Demonstrate the ability to engage with critical traditions that have shaped our understanding of literature of the period from the Victorians to the present: 1,2,3
Apply knowledge of the historical factors that influenced the production of literature in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries.: 1,2,3

Study hours

24 hours seminars
24 hours lectures and workshops
40 hours seminar/workshop preparation
112 hours reading primary and secondary texts
20 hours working on short paper
20 hours working on review
60 hours working on essay

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Essay weighted 20%
1500-word essay
A 1500-word analysis of an extract from critical theory. Students will choose to discuss one from a choice of three extracts from critical commentaries or literary theory. They will be asked to discuss their chosen extract with reference to one of the set primary texts on the module. Feedback will offered on this exercise that will feed into the other pieces of assessment.

2: Podcast weighted 20%
A Podcast
Students will record a short (c.7-minute) individual podcast on a critical essay, testing ability to summarise an argument and apply it to a passage from a primary text. They will be required to submit a transcript. They are assessed on the audio submission alone.

3: Essay weighted 60%
2500-word essay
A 2500-word essay. Students choose one question from a list of 8-10. The essay questions will reflect the themes covered on the module with respect to Victorian to Contemporary literature.

The University undertakes a continuous review of its teaching and research provision to ensure programmes are of a high quality and changes may be made to modules where it is necessary and reasonable to do so. Please be aware that minor changes to modules, such as a change to an individual assessment, can occur up until enrolment, although we endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes. 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/legalgovernancecompliance/governance/actcharterstatutesordinancesandregulations/studenttermsconditions/

Last Updated: 17 March 2026