Literary Criticism in English
Code: 106326 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| English Studies | OT | 3 |
| English Studies | OT | 4 |
Contact
- Name:
- Virginia Pignagnoli
- Email:
- virginia.pignagnoli@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
An essential requirement is a C2 level of English in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment.
A level of English at C2 allows students to understand with ease virtually everything heard or read; to summarise information from distinct spoken and written sources; to reconstruct arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation; and to express themselves spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations.
Students who register for this subject should have passed the obligatory literature subjects of our degree.
Objectives and Contextualisation
This course aims to introduce students to literary theory and, in particular, to narrative theory. After a brief survey of the main theoretical schools in twentieth- and twenty-first-century literary theory, the course will present students with a toolkit of useful terms and concepts for narrative analysis. The final part of the course introduces key areas in contemporary narrative studies, especially those exploring intersections with feminist and queer theory, ecocriticism, artificial intelligence, social media, cognitive science, medicine, social justice, and more. The study of theories, practices, approaches, and methodologies for literary and narrative analysis will be accompanied by selected examples from nineteenth-, twentieth-, and twenty-first-century narratives across various media and forms.
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.
- Interpret extracts from documents and texts in English representative of distinct historical periods.
- 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 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
1. Introduction to Literary Theory
2. Narrative Analysis: Toolkit and Core Concepts
3. Contemporary Narrative Theory
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Critical debate | 5 | 0.2 | |
| Lectures | 50 | 2 | |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Bibliographical research | 10 | 0.4 | |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Individual reading and study | 60 | 2.4 |
1 crèdit ECTS = 25 hs teaching x 6 credits = 150 h.
- Directed activities
- Supervised activities
- Autonomous activities
- Assessment activities
*Within the teaching period established by the Faculty calendar, 15 minutes of class time will be reserved for students to complete the subject and teacher-assessment surveys.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class participation and in-class activities | 10% | 17 | 0.68 | 1, 12, 14, 2, 3, 13, 4, 5, 7, 9, 6, 10, 11 |
| Exam | 45 % | 4 | 0.16 | 1, 12, 14, 2, 3, 13, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 6, 10, 11 |
| Final paper | 45 % | 4 | 0.16 | 1, 14, 2, 3, 15, 4, 5, 8, 6, 11 |
Assessment is based on:
Final Paper = 45%
Exam = 45%
Class Participation = 10%
- All evaluation dates will be confirmed at the beginning of the semester.
- All the exercises are COMPULSORY. An exercise not handed in or an exam the student has not taken will count as ‘NP’ (‘no presentat’ or ‘no evidence’), i.e., 0. This means that all activities are compulsory and that submission of the essay (35%) automatically excludes the possibility of obtaining “No avaluable” as a final grade.
- The minimum mark for an exercise or exam to be considered for the average final mark is 4, although the minimum pass mark for the whole subject is 5.
- The student’s command of English will be taken into account when marking all exercises and for the final mark.
- 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.
- Re-assessment conditions:
- Only those students who have fulfilled all coursework requirements and have obtained between 3.5 (FAIL) and 4.9 (FAIL) as a provisional final grade and have passed either the exam or the essay have a right to re-assessment.
- Re-assessment will be through a written examination on a date and time established by the Faculty. This exam will synthesise the essential contents of the subject as a whole.
- This examination will allow the lecturer to determine whether the re-assessment candidate has merited the pass grade of 5.0.
- The ONLY re-assessment pass grade that will be awarded, therefore, is 5.0 (PASS).
- Specific items of course work will NOT be re-assessed, except where a student may havea justified absence (e.g., through illness, accredited by a doctor's note).
- Re-assessment is ONLY available to students who have failed initial assessment; it is NOT available to pass students simply wishing to improve their grade.
Important note for exchange students (Erasmus, etc.) on exams and other tests: Erasmus students who request to bring forward an exam or any other type of assessment activity must present the teacher with an official document from their home university justifying their request.
Single assessment
Single assessment will consist of the following activities:
A written exam which will include all the theoretical perspectives offered in the course (50 %).
An oral commentary on a chosen text, based on all of the critical perspectives offered in the course (50 %)
The same re-assessment method as continuous assessment will be used.
IMPORTANT (PLAGIARISM and IRREGULARITIES)
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 a misuse of AI such as presenting work as original that has been generated by an AI tool or programme. These evaluation activities will not be re-assessed.
This subject entirely prohibits the use of AI technologies in all of its activities. Any submitted work that contains content generated using AI will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade will be awarded a zero, without the possibility of reassessment. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.
Bibliography
Jonathan Culler. 1997. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
H. Porter Abbott. 2020. The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative, third edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jahn, Manfred. 2025. Narratology 3.0: A Guide to the Theory of Narrative. English Department, U of Cologne. Available online here: www.uni-koeln.de/~ame02/pppn.pdf
A selection of critical and primary narrative texts will be provided at the beginning of the course as a course reader on Moodle.
Software
No specific software will be used.
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | English | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | English | second semester | morning-mixed |