Major Writers of Literature in English
Code: 106327 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2504212 English Studies | OT | 3 |
| 2504212 English Studies | OT | 4 |
Contact
- Name:
- Laura Gimeno Pahissa
- Email:
- laura.gimeno@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
Major Writers of Literature in English is a subject that offers a monographic view on an author of central importance in the literature written in this language. The course for the 2024-2025 academic year provides a detailed and intensive study of the life and work of James Baldwin (1924-1987).
A C2 (Proficiency) level of English as established by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment is required.
With C2, the student can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read; summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation; express themselves spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations.
The knowledge acquired in the subjects Cultural History of the USA, US Literature 1, US Literature 2, and US Literature 3 will be particularly relevant, in addition to other compulsory literature subjects taken throughout the degree.
Objectives and Contextualisation
This subject provides an approach to the life and work of James Baldwin, to the American literary culture of his time, and to the most relevant corpus of literary criticism about this author.
The basic aim of the course is to attain a more complete understanding of aspects of Baldwin's life and work, looking at his very diverse facets as a novelist and essayist. The course will carry out a critical reading of some of his major novels and essays (their influence on American literature; their literary and historical roots; their technical and artistic contribution to the American novel), his life and "after life" both in literature, and in other media.
Competences
- English Studies
- Apply scientific ethical principles to information processing.
- Apply the methodology of analysis and critical concepts to analysing the literature, culture and history of English-speaking countries.
- Critically evaluate linguistic, literary and cultural production in English.
- Demonstrate skills to develop professionally in the fields of linguistic applications, teaching and literary and cultural management in English.
- Demonstrate skills to work autonomously and in teams to fulfil the planned objectives.
- Develop arguments applicable to the fields of literature, culture and linguistics and evaluate their academic relevance.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Understand and produce written and spoken academic texts in English at advanced higher-proficient-user level (C2).
- Use current philological methodologies to interpret literary texts in English and their cultural and historical context.
- Use digital tools and specific documentary sources for the collection and organisation of information.
- Use written and spoken English for academic and professional purposes, related to the study of linguistics, the philosophy of language, history, English culture and literature.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse the contexts of application of literary and interpretative criticism in the different areas of literary and cultural production in English.
- Demonstrate comprehension of specialist and non-specialist texts in English of high difficulty and interpret these critically.
- Describe critically and in detail the set of stylistic and cultural elements that affect a literary text in English.
- Express oneself in English orally and in writing in an academic register, using terminology appropriate to the study of the texts and contexts of English literature.
- Identify the stylistic and cultural elements that make up the interpretation of different literary genres in English.
- In an effective manner, organise the autonomous component to learning.
- Incorporate ideas and concepts from published sources into work, citing and referencing appropriately.
- Locate specialised and academic information and select this according to its relevance.
- Plan work effectively, individually or in groups, in order to fulfil the planned objectives.
- Produce written and spoken academic texts at a higher-proficient-user level (C2) on the concepts and skills relevant to the study of English literary texts and contexts.
- Understand and differentiate adequately between the concepts of literature and culture in English, as well as their mutual relations and interactions.
- Understand and reflect on literature and culture in English, situating these in their contexts and historical circumstances.
- Understand and reflect on the different critical and interpretative contexts of the teaching of literature in English.
- Understand specialised academic texts on research into the texts and contexts of English literature.
- Understanding and reflecting on relatively specialised authentic texts in English in various academic and professional fields.
Content
Unit 1 - Introduction, Social and Cultural Background; Historical Context
Unit 2 - Autobiography and Religion: Go Tell it on the Mountain (*)
Unit 3 - Love is Love: Another Country (*)
Unit 4 - Institutionalized Racism: If Beale Street Could Talk (*)
Unit 5 - Activism and Civil Rights: selection of essays
Unit 6 - Baldwin's Legacy and Influence
Students must buy a copy of the books signalled with an asterisc (*)
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Class Discussions | 20 | 0.8 | 2, 4, 8, 10, 12, 14 |
| Lectures | 30 | 1.2 | 2, 4, 8, 12, 14 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Bibliographical Search | 10 | 0.4 | 2, 6, 8, 12, 14 |
| Essay writing | 20 | 0.8 | 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Personal study | 20 | 0.8 | 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14 |
| Reading | 25 | 1 | 2, 6, 8, 12, 14 |
1 ECTS credit = 25 teaching/assessment hours > 6 credits = 150 hours.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attendance and Participation in Class Discussions | 10% | 4 | 0.16 | 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14 |
| Exam | 40% | 8 | 0.32 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 |
| In-class essay | 35% | 8 | 0.32 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 |
| Video book review | 15% | 5 | 0.2 | 2, 4, 5, 12, 13, 14, 15 |
Assessment is based on the following items:
- An in-class essay (35%)
- An exam (40%)
- A video book review (15%)
- Class participation (10%)
- Definitive dates for each of the above exercises will be published at the start of the course.
- On carrying out each assessment activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
- All exercises are COMPULSORY
Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than two thirds of the assessment items.
Reassessment conditions
- Students whose final average mark of the two exams is between 3,5 and 4,9 are eligible for re-assessment.
- The specific re-assessment activity will be confirmed by the lecturer.
- The only pass mark awarded in re-assessment is a 5.
- In case students cannot take the exam on the date set up by the teacher for justified medical reasons, a different date can be agreed on with the lecturer.
- Reassessment is available ONLY to students who have failed the initial assessment; it is NOT available to students who have passed but wish to improve their final grade.
Plagiarism
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Irregularities refer, for instance, to copying in an exam, copying from sources without indiacting authorship, or amisuse of AI such aspresenting work as original that has been generated by an AI tool or programme. These evaluation activities will not be re-assessed.
Single Assessment
Students who opt for this will be required to take the following assessment, which will be scheduled on a single day:
1. A commentary on a selection of passages from Baldwin’s works (35%)
2. An essay about one of the topics discussed in the course (35%)
3. An oral exam based on the reading and discussion of secondary bibliography related to the content of the course (30%)
The same re-assessment method as continuous assessment will be used.
Procedure for Reviewing Grades
On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
Bibliography
James Baldwin: Compulsory Texts
Baldwin, James. Go Tell it on the Mountain (ISBN: 9780141185910) *
______________. Another Country (ISBN: 9780141186375) *
______________. If Beale Street Could Talk (ISBN: 9780140187977) *
______________. A selection of essays
Students must buy the three texts marked with an asterisk (*)
James Baldwin: Context and work
(More specific bibliography will be provided for each of the texts)
Baldwin, James. The Last Interview and Other Conversations. Melville House, 2014.
Brim, Matt. James Baldwin and the Queer Imagination. The University of Michigan Press, 2014.
Dudley, Marc K. Understanding James Baldwin. The University of South Carolina Press, 2019.
Elam, Michele. The Cambridge Companion to James Baldwin. Cambridge University Press, 2015, https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781107337725.
Field, Douglas (ed.). A Historical Guide to James Baldwin. Oxford University Press, 2009.
Field, Douglas. All Those Strangers: The Art and Lives of James Baldwin. Oxford University Press, 2015.
Leeming, David A., James Baldwin: A Biography. Henry Holt & Co., 1995.
Miller, D. Quentin (ed.). James Baldwin in Context. 1st ed., Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Software
Moodle/UAB Virtual Campus
Language list
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | English | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | English | second semester | morning-mixed |