Modules
Poison, Filth, Trash: Modernism, Censorship and Resistance (EAS3252)
| Staff | Professor Jana Funke - Convenor |
|---|---|
| Credit Value | 30 |
| ECTS Value | 15 |
| NQF Level | 6 |
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Co-requisites | None |
| Duration of Module | Term 1: 12 weeks; |
Module aims
Through discussions, presentations and lectures, you will engage critically and creatively with modernist literature and film in order to:
- discover different forms of censorship and repression and learn how these have shaped the production and reception of modernist literature and film
- investigate why certain texts were censored, asking what censorship reveals about historically and culturally specific concerns about race, sexuality, gender, nation and class
- explore how modernist texts were affected by censorship, reading literature and film in tandem with legal, scientific and other historical sources
- examine how modernist authors and filmmakers engage with themes related to censorship and repression, including psychological repression, freedom of speech, power and corruption, in their work
- debate whether certain forms of censorship or repression can be productive or even necessary under certain circumstances
Teaching is by two-hour weekly seminars (or similar), which will give you a chance to discuss the literary and filmic texts in-depth and explore relevant historical, critical and theoretical contexts. There will be additional one-hour lectures each week to offer further contextual information and film screenings. The assignments give you the option to go beyond the set reading and viewing and explore additional authors, filmmakers, texts and themes based on your own interests.
ILO: Module-specific skills
- 1. Demonstrate an informed and critical understanding of the ways in which modernist culture was shaped by different forms of censorship and repression
- 2. Relate modernist literature and film to other relevant historical sources (e.g. legal or scientific) and to the socio-political contexts out of which they arose
- 3. Analyse how modernist writers and filmmakers responded to the threat of censorship in their works and how they engaged with psychological forms of repression and self-censorship
- 4. Engage critically with ideologies of race, sexuality, gender, nation and class that underpin censorship and repression
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
- 5. Analyse literature and film and relate their concerns and modes of representation to different social, political, economic and historical contexts
- 6. Demonstrate advanced skills in the close formal, thematic, generic, comparative and historical analysis of different kinds of fiction and film
- 7. Research and evaluate relevant critical, historical and theoretical materials for the study of film and literature
ILO: Personal and key skills
- 8. Through module participation, demonstrate advanced verbal communication skills individually and as part of a group
- 9. Through essay-writing, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographical skills, a capacity to construct a coherent and substantial argument, an ability to write clear and convincing prose and develop planning, organisational and problem-solving skills
- 10. Through research for e.g. seminars and assignments, demonstrate advanced proficiency in identifying appropriate primary and secondary materials, information analysis and work on your own initiative
Syllabus plan
Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that this module will cover some or all of the following topics:
- Sexology, Medical Authority and Queer and Trans Lives
- Legal Frameworks of Censorship, Obscenity and ‘Corruption’
- Pornography and Sexual Freedom
- The Harlem Renaissance, Black Liberation and the Literary Canon
- Female Sexuality and Visual Languages of Resistance
- White Patronage and Censorship
- The Indian Progressive Writers’ Association and Freedom of Speech
- The Bloomsbury Group, Queer Sexualities and Self-Censorship
- Civil Rights and Surveillance
- Injurious and Harmful Speech
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 66 | 234 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 22 | Seminars (or similar) |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 11 | Lectures |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 33 | Film screenings |
| Guided independent study | 103 | Presentation (individual) |
| Guided independent study | 131 | Reading, research and essay preparation |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay 1 | 35 | 2000 words | 1-7, 9-10 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for follow-up conversation |
| Essay Plan | 10 | 1000 words | 1-7, 9-10 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for follow-up conversation |
| Essay 2 | 45 | 3000 words | 1-7, 9-10 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for follow-up conversation |
| Module Participation | 10 | Continuous assessment | 1-8, 10 | Opportunity for follow-up conversation |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay 1 (2000 words) | Essay 1 (2000 words) | 1-7, 9-10 | Referral/deferral period |
| Essay Plan (1000 words) | Essay Plan (1000 words) | 1-7,10 | Referral/deferral period |
| Essay 2 (3000 words) | Essay 2 (3000 words) | 1-7, 9-10 | Referral/deferral period |
| Module Participation | Module Participation | 1-8, 10 | Repeat Study/Mitigation |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Primary reading:
- James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room (1956)
- Djuna Barnes, Ladies Almanack (1928)
- Ismat Chughtai, “The Quilt” (1941)
- E.M. Forster, Maurice (1913-14/1971)
- Radclyffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness (1928)
- Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road (1941)
- Nella Larsen, Quicksand (1928)
- Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own (1929)
Secondary reading:
- Judith Butler, Excitable Speech (1997)
- Saidiya Hartman, Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women and Queer Radicals (2019)
- Allison Pease, Modernism, Mass Culture and the Aesthetics of Obscenity (2000)
- Rachel Potter, Obscene Modernism: Literary Censorship and Experiment (2013)
- Lisa Sigel, Governing Pleasures: Pornography and Social Change in England, 1815-1914 (2002)
- Whitney Strub, Perversion for Profit: The Politics of Pornography and the Rise of the New Right (2010)
Module has an active ELE page?
Yes
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
Indicative learning resources - Other resources
Viewing:
- Borderline, dir. Kenneth Macpherson (1930)
- Different from the Others, dir. Richard Oswald (1919)
- Girls in Uniform, dir. Leontine Sagan (1931)
- Fire, dir. Deepa Mehta (1996)
- The Children’s Hour, dir. William Wyler (1961)
- Passing, dir. Rebecca Hall (2021)
Available as distance learning?
No
Origin date
01/01/2020
Last revision date
04/01/2023
Key words search
modernism; censorship; sexuality; gender; race; nation; class; queer; feminist