EN3MAT-Margaret Atwood

Module Provider: English Literature
Number of credits: 20 [10 ECTS credits]
Level:6
Terms in which taught: Spring term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites: English Part 1
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2022/3

Module Convenor: Dr Mary Morrissey
Email: m.e.morrissey@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

Margaret Atwood is Canada's most influential contemporary writer. Atwood consistently engages with issues of power ('who can do what to whom and get away with it') and her work connects with a range of contemporary debates including ecological, feminist, and ideological discourses. On this module we discuss dystopia, speculative fiction, the uncanny, ideology, postmodernity and questions of language and narration, engaging with the texts via close analysis and critical/theoretical readings of the texts. The novel explores Atwood's novels (The Edible Woman, The Handmaid's Tale, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and The Testaments) but her poetry and critical essays are discussed as appropriate. Students will demonstrate their engagement with the module in a summative Portfolio assessment which will be submitted by or on the final day of the term in which the module is taught (see below for assessment details). There is no exam on this module.

Aims:

This module is designed to provide students with knowledge and understanding of selected novels of Margaret Atwood, and to equip students with a critical awareness of debates circulating around her work. The module will address a range of issues including the construction of Canadian national identity within the texts, genre splicing, ‘the body politic’, ‘life writing’, and questions of narration and ‘voice’. Students will be encouraged to engage with a wide range of critical readings of the selected texts, and with theoretical ideas and approaches.

Assessable learning outcomes:

By the end of the module students will be expected to:

• exercise skills of close textual analysis, and demonstrate an understanding of the texts selected for study


• demonstrate an awareness of broader critical and theoretical issues involved in the study of Atwood’s writing, particularly in relation to ‘identity’ formation, postmodernist inflection, and ideological meaning generation


• engage critically with ideasdiscussed in seminars and secondary literature


• construct and express coherent critical arguments in writing.

Additional outcomes:

Oral and written communication skills will be developed, together with critical, interpretative and analytical abilities. Students will also learn to use the VLE Learning Journal resource efficiently and as an aid to developing engagement with the issues of this module.

Outline content:

The module addresses selected novels of Margaret Atwood, Canada’s most influential contemporary writer. Central to the module will be debates around Atwood’s articulation of anxieties involved in questions of national identity, power relationships, ‘history’, and modes of ‘vision’. Emphasis will be placed on Atwood’s innovative narrative strategies, modes of social criticism, and discourses upon sex and gender dynamics. Texts selected for study may include The Edible Woman, The Handmaid’s Tale, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and The Testaments. The texts are, however, selected annually and are therefore subject to change. Seminar discussion will revolve around readings produced by close textual analysis intersected with readings produced by broader critical and theoretical debates.

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:

Three seminar hours weekly, for which students are required to undertake preparatory reading. Students are also entitled to a half-hour tutorial on their formative work. With the consent of the module convenor, students may also undertake a placement, through which they will learn how to apply the knowledge and skills gained in studying for this module in a professional context outside the University.

Contact hours:

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Seminars		30
Guided independent study:		170
Total hours by term	0		0
Total hours for module	200

Summative Assessment Methods:

Method	Percentage
Portfolio	100

Summative assessment- Examinations:

Summative assessment- Coursework and in-class tests:

The module is assessed via an online Portfolio submitted by or on the last day of the term in which the module is taught. This element comprises 100% of the assessment for the module and it must contain all four elements to be avoid penalties. There is no exam for this module.

The Portfolio consists of four elements divided into two assessment deadlines:

Assessment 1: Section 1 of the Portfolio, the ‘Survey of Critical Material’. This is worth 20% of the overall mark for the module and is submitted on the final Friday of Week 5 of the term in which the module is taught. 

Assessment 2: Sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Portfolio which together produce 80% of the overall mark for the module. The deadline for this submission is the final Friday of the term in which the module is taught. 

The Portfolio therefore consists of the following elements: 

• Assessment 1.  A 1000-word survey of critical material (submitted at the end of Week 5 of the term in which the module is taught and worth 20% of the overall mark for the module).


• Assessment 2 : A 1500-word piece of independent research. Topics will be supplied, for example: Biblical intertextuality (The Handmaid’s Tale); the history of patchwork quilts (Alias Grace, re theoretical debates re women’s writing); pulp science fiction of the 1920s (The Blind Assassin). Students are also free to choose their own topic to research, with the agreement of the module convenor. For students undertaking a work placement, a report written to the same length, relating the placement to the emphases of the module, will replace this section. Together with sections 3 and 4, this produces 80% of the overall mark for the module, 


• Assessment 2:  A 2500-word critical essay. Questions will be provided. Together with sections 2 and 4, this produces 80% of the mark for the module. 


• Assessment 2 : A full bibliography for elements 2 and 3. Together with Sections 2 and 3, this produces 80% of the overall mark for the module. 

Formative assessment methods:

Full feedback and feedforward on the developing Portfolio will be given by Week 7 of term. Students will submit this work using a Word document attached to an email. The module convenor will provide full feedback on the contents of the Portfolio-in-progress, providing ‘feedforward’ to enhance the summative submission. This formative stage will encourage students to begin preparing the Portfolio in a timely manner and it will provide them with an opportunity to act on the feedback.

Penalties for late submission:

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of five working days;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than five working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/cqsd-old-site-documents/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf
You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Assessment requirements for a pass:
A mark of at least 40% overall.

Reassessment arrangements:

Re-assessment in August. The complete Portfolio must be resubmitted by the end of the third week in August. 

Additional Costs (specified where applicable):

1) Required text books: Students are required to buy the primary texts for this module (ie. those texts studied in seminars). The library has some copies of these texts but most students prefer to buy their own copies of the novels. All secondary material is available in the Library.

2) Specialist equipment or materials: 

3) Specialist clothing, footwear or headgear: 

4) Printing and binding: 

5) Computers and devices with a particular specification: 

6) Travel, accommodation and subsistence: 

Last updated: 28 February 2023