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EL55C2: WRITING THE SELF (2021-2022)

Last modified: 31 May 2022 13:05


Course Overview

What is at stake in writing autobiographical texts? What are the forms writers have used to write themselves? Is autobiography simply, as Oscar Wilde states, the lowest form of criticism? Looking at a range of texts from the Medieval period to the present, with a special focus on women’s writing, this course examines the formal, ethical, political, and aesthetic choices writers make when writing themselves.

Course Details

Study Type Postgraduate Level 5
Term Second Term Credit Points 30 credits (15 ECTS credits)
Campus Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Elizabeth Elliott

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • Any Postgraduate Programme

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

None.

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

Life writing lies between literature and history; it often challenges the distinction between fact and fiction. It can be a form of political subversion, or a form of private reflection. This course explores a wide range of life writing, from the Medieval period to the present, in order to look at the formal, ethical, political, and aesthetic choices writers make when writing themselves. The course particularly focuses on women’s life writing; incorporating a variety of material from diaries and poems to essays and experimental fiction, it showcases both the challenges and rewards of this most private, most public form of expression. Selected authors may include Margery Kempe, Frederick Douglass, Virginia Woolf, and Alison Bechdel.


Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 30
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback

1 mid-term essay 2,500 words

Written and oral feedback provided

Word Count 2500
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Presentation

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 10
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback

Oral feedback provided.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 60
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback

1 end-of-course essay 3,500 words.

Written and oral feedback provided.

Word Count 3500
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Resit Assessments

Essay resubmission 3,500 words

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 100
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback Written
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualApplyIn written and oral forms, students will demonstrate the ability to apply theories of life-writing to chosen texts.
ProceduralCreateIn written and oral forms, students will produce analyses of chosen texts demonstrating an awareness of the ways gender, class, and race impact the creation of autobiographical texts.
ProceduralAnalyseStudents will understand the difference between multiple forms of life writing and the relevant theories used to discuss them.
ConceptualUnderstandStudents will demonstrate understanding of autobiographical texts from multiple periods, and their relation to historical and social contexts.

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