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ENG-30138 - Module Specification
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

For academic year: 2025/26 Last Updated: 04 December 2025

ENG-30138 - Working-Class Fictions
Coordinator: Lisa Blower
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 6
Credits: 15
Study Hours: 150
School Office:

Programme/Approved Electives for 2025/26

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

N/A

Barred Combinations

N/A

Description for 2025/26

This module introduces you to the practices of working-class fiction, a genre grounded in matters of identity and social realism. You will explore literary traditions through a series of set texts (e.g. Angry Young Men of the 60s, Shuggie Bain), film adaptations, and protest songs to inspire your own practice. You will be alerted to debates and propaganda that continue to influence whilst exploring how to experiment with medium to best represent the class-subject past and present.

Aims
The module aims to help you understand the genre of working-class writing across all its mediums with a particular emphasis on its representation in contemporary publishing. It also offers a structured approach to engaging with its current and historical themes in your own creative practice, finding connections between your own experience/interests/reading, and the wider professional landscapes of writing.

Intended Learning Outcomes

analyse and communicate ideas of working-class writing in the 20th and 21st century: 1,2
identify and analyse its themes and tropes in published works and how medium may affect the interpretation: 1,2
acquire knowledge of the connections between your own creative ideas/practices and the wider literary landscape: 1,2
produce original writing which engages with contemporary class-centric themes: 1,2
reflect on your own creative practice and the creative practices of other: 2

Study hours

Active learning hours: 24 hours taught seminars/workshops
Independent Study hours (126 hours):
Workshop preparation: 24 hours (producing original creative work for workshop; reading and provision of constructive criticism on peers’ work for workshop);
Reading set text material/watching films/listening to audio: 86 hours
Film Presentation preparation: 10 hours;
Mid-term and end of term assignment preparation: 6 hours (assuming above preparatory activities are completed).

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Portfolio weighted 60%
Portfolio of Creative Writing
An original piece of creative work that represents the working-class subject (up to 2,000 words prose fiction or non-fiction OR 6-8 poems OR 4-5 page script for TV or stage)

2: Portfolio weighted 40%
Personal Essay/Reflective work
A personal essay that combines a reflective analysis of your practice with your reading of (up to) 3 works studied across the module that influenced your work and use of medium (up to 1,000 words)

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: 04 December 2025