Cognition and Literature
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| ENGL4025 | English | 4 | 20 | Autumn UK |
- Code
- ENGL4025
- School
- English
- Level
- 4
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Autumn UK
Summary
This module represents a course in cognitive poetics. It draws on insights developed in cognitive science, especially in psychology and linguistics, in order to develop an understanding of the processes involved in literary reading. The module also develops skills in stylistics and critical theory.
Target Students
Only available to on-site postgraduate students in the School of English.
Classes
- One 2-hour seminar each week for 12 weeks
Assessment
- 100% Coursework 1: 4000 word practical cognitive poetic analysis of a literary text of your own choice.
Assessed by end of autumn semester
Educational Aims
The course will demonstrate the cognitive poetic analysis of literary texts, ranging across the modes of poetry, prose and drama. It aims to include social and cultural dimensions of literary reading in its methodological base, viewed from a cognitive perspective. It will raise ideological and theoretical issues in both academic practice and lay reading, and will link cognitive poetics procedures with the theory and methodology of other disciplines such as semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, stylistics, narratology and its position in relation to literary criticism.Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the module will gain an advanced knowledge of the field of cognitive poetics and will arrive at a position where they are able to make an innovative contribution to the field. They will be able to demonstrate practical analytical skills in how textual analysis and readerly response are integrated, and they will acquire critical and reflective skills in literary methodology.
Transferable skills
Students will develop independent research skills, critical thinking, the ability to assimilate different theoretical approaches to a phenomenon, skills of adapting a methodology to a new context, and effective communication skills. The module also offers the opportunity for developing new theoretical directions in the emerging field.