Reading Writing Death & Dying DL CRWRT5057

  • Academic Session: 2025-26
  • School: School of Critical Studies
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
  • Typically Offered: Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: No
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No
  • Curriculum For Life: No

Short Description

This masters-level course examines the multi-disciplinary topic of death and dying and focuses on how reading and writing about death, dying and grief across forms, disciplines and mediums (including creative non-fiction, anthropology, fiction, poetry, and images), impact our ability to create discussion around these subjects. By integrating the close reading and discussions of published work on death and dying, including the workshopping of students' work, this course encourages new writing and collaborations underpinned by the idea that writing and reading about death gives us powerful tools to encourage communication around death and dying.

Timetable

10 x 2 hour sessions as scheduled on MyCampus.

Requirements of Entry

Standard entry to a Masters at College level.

Excluded Courses

CRWRT5045P

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

Portfolio of 4000 word portfolio of prose /160 lines of poetry or equivalencies for hybrid forms (80%)

1,000 word self-reflective essay/blog (20%)

Course Aims

The course aims to:

■ Investigate approaches to engaging with death and dying through the close reading of diverse written and visual narratives and approaches;

■ Explore literary and cultural attitudes, beliefs and practices surrounding death and dying;

■ Enable students to analyse and produce a range of diverse, innovative work about death and dying;

■ Examine editorial approaches to cross-genre and cross-medium work that engages with death and dying.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to: 

■ Examine through close reading of inter-disciplinary works, discussion and writing, their understanding of the diverse approaches to reading and writing about death and dying;

■ Critically evaluate and discuss the context and structures of reading and writing around death and dying;

■ Articulate cultural and personal attitudes about death and dying via creative and critical writing and reading; 

■ Contribute to discussions around writing/essaying as a place for deep critical, linguistic, intellectual, imaginative and emotional engagement with death and dying;

■ Provide useful editorial feedback to their peers and apply these editorial skills to own their own essays and work.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.