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Modernities: Literature, Theory & Culture

Programme Structure

The programme consists of a core course taught by a range of tutors over two terms (60 credits); special topic courses taught by individual tutors (20 credits each); a graduate training course (20 credits) and a dissertation involving supervised independent study (60 credits).

René Magritte, 'La condition humaine' Courses are taught as weekly 2 hour seminars, two in the Autumn Term (Core 1 + Special Topic 1) and two in the Spring Term (Core 2 + Special Topic 2), making a total of four. The Core Course will be team-taught; the Special Topics will be taught by individual tutors.

Each of these four courses is assessed by a term paper of approximately 4,000 words, submitted at the beginning of the following term. The topic of the paper is planned in consultation with the course supervisor. Students will also be expected to contribute at least one informal presentation to the weekly seminars.

These coursework seminars are taught to the extent that the student members meet regularly with a tutor and proceed through a planned sequence of reading and discussion. The working style however is exploratory rather than didactic; students are expected to engage fully with primary sources, to develop, express and take responsibility for their own opinions and to work towards independent argument and expression in their resulting term papers and dissertation.

Core Courses

Fernand Léger, 'Two Women' The Core Course is divided into two parts: part 1 consists of an examination of some of the foundational modernist movements and manifestos, and an investigation of some of the ways in which Modernism and modernity were theorised in the period 1900-1945; part 2 examines the 'fallout' of these movements over the last half century or so. Primary reading consists of seminal texts from the modernist and post-modernist periods, as well as of theoretical formulations of early twentieth-century modernity and its continuities. Secondary reading serves as an introduction to recent critical approaches drawing on fields such as narratology, psychoanalysis, feminism, post-colonialism, and cultural theory.

Topic Courses

Specialist modules may include:

    * Ireland’s Modernities – Narrative and Dramatic
    * Modernist Sexualities
    * Proust in Theory
    * Virginia Woolf Writes Modernity
    * African Modernities: Colonialism and Postcolonialism in the Novel
    * The American Counterculture, 1945-75
    * The Novel Now
    * OULIPO
    * 'Queer' Fictions

You may also opt for courses from other Masters programmes in the College of Arts (subject to the approval of the relevant convener), such as the MLitts in American Studies; European Studies; Theology & Religious Studies; 20th Century Avant-Gardes; Victorian Literature. For further information, contact the Modernities convener.

Dissertation

Yves Tanguy, 'The Look of Amber' The two terms of coursework are followed by one term of supervised work towards a Dissertation of up to 15,000 words for submission at the beginning of September. The topic normally arises out of the work of the previous two terms, but the choice is very much open to the student’s own initiative. The only restrictions are that the topic should be capable of serious scholarly treatment, and that adequate supervision is available. The supervisor helps you to develop the proposal and plan the most appropriate reading and methodology.

Note: In addition, students may take seminars in the School Research Training Programme and the College of Arts Graduate School Research Training Course. Topics include: use of library resources, advanced humanities computing, research skills and research management.