Master
2024/2025
Research Seminar “Text: Creating, Interpreting and Editing”
Type:
Elective course (Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication)
Area of studies:
Linguistics
Delivered by:
School of Foreign Languages
Where:
School of Foreign Languages
When:
1 year, 2 module
Mode of studies:
distance learning
Online hours:
20
Open to:
students of one campus
Instructors:
Ekaterina Vladimirovna Chernetsova
Master’s programme:
Иностранные языки и межкультурная коммуникация
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
3
Course Syllabus
Abstract
This course consists of two components: 1) to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to write and edit both essays and short fiction; 2) to explore key theoretical approaches to the study and interpretation of texts. The aim of the course is to provide students with the tools needed to write elegant prose in various genres with a view to improving overall writing competence. In practice, this entails closely analysing essays and short stories written by some of the masters of the form (with a focus on 20th–21st centuries), as well as learning about key editing strategies used by said authors. The course assignments have been designed with a view to mastering register, form and key linguistic elements most fitting to the communication purpose. Regarding the theory component of the course, students will learn to think more critically about genre, audience, and the ways in which a text’s form is both a constraint and a possibility for its author. Appropriate for Year-1 MA students, this course is intended to enhance reading, writing and editing skills; enrich vocabulary; unpack complex grammatical constructions; and encourage thought-provoking seminar discussions. Having completed this course, students are expected to master the fundamentals of good editing practice; understand key interpretative approaches to texts; and, finally, produce their own nonfictional essays and fictional stories.
Learning Objectives
- to differentiate between academic and belletristic/literary registers in essay writing
- to understand and practise the fundamentals of essay writing
- to understand and practise the fundamentals of story writing
- to explore various theoretical approaches to the study of texts of different genres
- to analyse the linguistic and formal characteristics of effective writing practice
Expected Learning Outcomes
- to distinguish fictional and nonfictional genres and their respective applications and possibilities
- To distinguish between different elements of fiction
- to explore key theoretical approaches to the study and interpretation of texts
- to identify literary techniques and creative uses of language in literary texts
- to articulate a thesis and present evidence to support it
- to be able to explain the relevance of themes found in literary texts to contemporary, personal, and cultural values
- to identify genres, conventions, and period-specific discourses and their relevance to broader historical forces
- to apply relevant theoretical concepts to literary or other texts and practices
Course Contents
- Dialogue in Fiction.
- Author and narrator - interaction.
- Course Introduction
- The Short Story.
- Theory of the Text: Genre Criticism.
- Theory of the Text: Reader-Response.
- Creative writing.
- Essayistic Form.
- The Opinion Essay.
Interim Assessment
- 2024/2025 2nd module0.25 * Class attendance and active participation + 0.3 * Exam Essay + 0.3 * Presentation + 0.15 * Writing Portfolio
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- Key concepts in creative writing, Morrison, M., 2010
- Key terms in literary theory, Klages, M., 2012
- Literary theory : a very short introduction, Culler, J., 2000
- Mokhtari, T. (2015). The Bloomsbury Introduction to Creative Writing. Bloomsbury Academic.
- Richter, D. H. (2018). A Companion to Literary Theory. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1713325
- Rivkin, J., & Ryan, M. (2016). Literary Theory : An Anthology (Vol. Third edition). Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1457299
- Wolfreys, J., Womack, K., & Robbins, R. (2014). Key Concepts in Literary Theory: Vol. Third edition. Edinburgh University Press.
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Castle, G. (2007). The Blackwell Guide to Literary Theory. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=181521
- Literary theory : a practical introduction, Ryan, M., 2017
- The practice of creative writing : a guide for students, Sellers, H., 2021
- Литературное мастерство: Creative Writing - Михальская А.К. - НИЦ ИНФРА-М - 2024 - https://znanium.com/catalog/product/2058784 - 426972 - ZNANIUM