EN2S23 - Reading Genre Fiction 18 Jul 2024 - 31 Aug 2028 | Version 1

Associated Module Information

Module Code: EN2S23
Module Title: Reading Genre Fiction
Faculty: Faculty of Business and Creative Industries
Faculty Group: Culture and Animation
Faculty Sub Group: Culture
Module Leader: Nicholas Dunlop
Module Team: Nicholas Dunlop
First Intended Intake: SEP 2019 Final Year of Intake: 2028
Date Closed:
Credit Value: 20 Credit Level: 5
Language: English
Percentage of Module Taught in Welsh: 0
Equivalent Module:
HECOS codes: 100319 - English literature
HECOS Code Weighting: 100

Document Version Information

Version 1
Valid From 18 Jul 2024
Valid To 31 Aug 2028

Module Aims

This module aims to introduce students to some theoretical concepts of the popular and notions of cultural value, and to enable students to identify and analyse popular writing in a selection of genres and to examine, investigate, and consider the reasons for its formulaic aspects. It will also enable students to interrogate the cultural, ideological and, on occasion, didactic functions of popular fiction, and to foster close reading, interpretation and analytical skills.

Content Summary

The module gives students the opportunity to study a number of works within a range of popular literary genres and to relate these texts to the cultural, social and historical contexts in which they were produced. Students will be introduced to some theoretical concepts underpinning the academic study of genre fiction, and the nature of the unstable boundaries between Genre Fiction and canonical literature will be critically examined. Genres such as the detective novel, horror fiction, science fiction and fantasy fiction will be analysed for literary and social significance.

Students will normally study eight to twelve primary texts which will be chosen to exemplify the formal and thematic aspects described in the previous paragraph. The texts will be selected from the work of such authors as Arthur Conan Doyle, H.P. Lovecraft, Philip Pullman, Arthur C Clarke, Umberto Eco, Susan Hill, Ursula Le Guin, James Ellroy, J.R.R Tolkien, Philip K. Dick, Stephanie Meyer, and other authors whose work may be considered to represent particular genres.

Learning and Teaching Methods

Activity Type Hours
Lecture 18
Seminar 18
Independent Study 80
Directed Study 84
Total Hours Selected 200

Learning Outcomes

# Learning Outcome
LO1 Understand the theoretical concepts underpinning the academic study of genre fiction, and demonstrate an understanding of the relationships between this literature and the historical and social contexts in which it was produced.
LO2 Reflect critically upon a range of popular genre texts and engage in debates on the formulaic and cultural characteristics of said texts.

Module Requisites

N/A

Assessment Criteria

Assessment Category Assessment Type Description Duration Word Count Weight (%) Best of? Pass Mark
Asynchronous Assessment Essay 1 Students select a question to answer in a critical essay. 0 2000 50 No 40
Asynchronous Assessment Essay 2 Students select a question to answer in a critical essay. 0 2000 50 No 40

Assessment Matrix

Assessment Type Learning Outcomes
LO1 LO2
Essay 1 ✔ ✔
Essay 2 ✔ ✔

Reading List

Set texts indicated on a yearly basis. 

 ASHLEY, B. 1989. The Study of Popular Fiction: A Sourcebook. London: Pinter. 

BACCOLINI, R. and MOYLAN, R, eds. 2003. Dark Horizons: Science Fiction and the Dystopian Imagination. London and New York: Routledge. 

BLOOM, C., DOCHERTY, B., GIBB, J. and SHAND, K, eds. 1988. Nineteenth-Century Suspense: From Poe to Conan Doyle. Basingstoke: Macmillan. 

FROW, J. Genre. 2005. London: Routledge. 

HORSLEY, L.  2010. Twentieth-Century Crime Fiction. Oxford: Oxford UP. 

JACKSON, R. 1981. Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion. London: Methuen. 

LEAVIS, Q. D. 1979. Fiction and the Reading Public. Harmondsworth: Penguin. 

Media, Culture and Society. Journal. 

NASH, W. 1990. Language in Popular Fiction. London: Routledge. 

PRIESTMAN, M. 1990. Detective Fiction and Literature: the Figure on the Carpet. Basingstoke: Macmillan. 

PUNTER, D. 1996. The Literature of Terror: The Gothic Tradition. Vol. 1. 2nd ed. London: Longman. 

PUNTER, D. 1996. The Literature of Terror: The Modern Gothic. Vol. 2. 2nd ed. London: Longman.  

REGIS, P. 2003. A Natural History of the Romance Novel. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press. 

ROBERTS, A. 2006. Science Fiction. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.  

SCANELL, P., Schlesinger, P. & Sparks, C., eds. 1994. Culture and Power: A Media, Culture and Society Reader. London: SAGE. 

STRINATI, D. 2003. An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.  

SUTHERLAND, J. 2007. Bestsellers: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

WAITES, B., BENNETT, T. and MARTIN, G., eds. 1993. Popular Culture: Past and Present. 

WISKER, G. 2005. Horror Fiction. London: Continuum Books.