There are no pre-requisites for this module to be added

This module will enable you to study a range of modern Scottish novels, and undertake a socio-historical examination of these texts. You will consider in detail the development of modern Scottish fiction – from realism, through the modernist period and on into postmodernity. Texts will be analysed formally, as well as in relation to the national and international social, political and cultural contexts of the period.The critic Gavin Wallace once described the Scottish novel as ‘the novel of damaged identity'. This module will examine that claim. Furthermore, Modern Scottish fiction will be studied in relation to theories of the nation, nationalism, and post-nationalism, as well as in an internationalist perspective. The module will also be representative of diverse wider concerns and issues, such as gender, class, sectarianism, and the tensions and contrasts between the urban and the rural. This module will: introduce the Kailyard and examine the anti-Kailyard novel; trace the development of the Scottish Literary Renaissance in its historical and cultural contexts; study the formal and thematic importance of significant modern Scottish novels; examine community, masculinity and history; look at femininity and the welfare statist Thatcherite 1980s; study gender, sexuality and race; examine authorship, (social and gender) peripherality, and postmodern ‘rave' culture.

Upon completion of this module you will be able to

LO1: Articulate a well-argued understanding of the diverse nature of modern Scottish fiction.

LO2: Evaluate the formal development of the novel in Scotland, from the realism of the early twentieth century through to the modernist and postmodern modes of the later twentieth century.

LO3: Analyse key themes in modern Scottish fiction, including gender, class, and political and social change across the twentieth century.

LO4: Undertake critical analysis of a range of novels relating to Scotland in their cultural, theoretical, national and international contexts.

LO5: Conduct independent research that will inform discussion and analysis around essay-based writing on modern Scottish fiction.