Aims

This module will chart the development of a distinctive cultural imaginary in the North East of England from 1900 to the present, through study of its novels, poems, plays, films and political writings.

The North East is one of the historic birthplaces of literacy in the British Isles, though it has also often been marginalised from the centralised culture of the English literary establishment. This module will explore the fate of North East writing (in the broadest sense) from the post-Victorian era to the twenty-first century, a time when the region's slow industrial decline was offset by a series of experiments in imaginative idealism, energetic realism and countercultural eccentricity.

We will try to assess whether the modern history of North East cultural production offers any clues as to how the region and its people might move forward in the socially, environmentally and constitutionally vexed climate of the twenty-first century. We will also try to work out how such subjects affect our own status as temporary, putative or permanent citizens of Newcastle and its environs.

NB: For the purposes of this module, "the North East of England" is defined as the historic counties of Northumberland (plus Newcastle/Tyneside), County Durham (including modern Wearside and parts of modern Teesside) and the Teesside portion of Yorkshire (i.e. Middlesbrough and its environs).

Outline Of Syllabus

Authors for study may include Pat Barker, Basil Bunting, Peter Flannery, Lee Hall, Jessica Andrews, Barry MacSweeney, Richard Dawson and Jack Common, and topics of study may include suffragism, the stereotype of the kitchen-sink writer, de- and post-industrialisation, the Miners’ Strike, the Northumbrian Weird, the multi-racial experiment of World Headquarters nightclub, Viz magazine, the North-East millennial novel and the poetic counterculture of 1960s Newcastle.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The lectures introduce students to textual, biographical and critical debates surrounding texts, providing introductory readings of relevant poems, crucial pieces of information and an overall map to guide students in their independent study. The seminars build on the lectures, independent study and study group discussions, allowing students to reflect on their reading in a participatory group environment and hone their analytical skills by way of group close reading exercises.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The 4000-word essay encourages students to secure their knowledge and skills outcomes as outlined above, by way of a comparative reading of two or more primary texts.

The formative assessment will consist of a form of draft material (for example a detailed plan, draft or essay introduction); it will prepare students for the long final essay and allow them to receive feedback on their ideas as they are gestating.