Overview
A study of literary classics that have attracted controversy for reasons including political content; issues of morality/obscenity; transgressing conventions of form; polemical works; questions of authorial identity and authenticity; controversies over prizes and literary merit.
ENGL 131 Controversial Classics explores how literature engages debates over art, religion, sexuality, morality, politics, race, gender, drugs, censorship, environmental destruction, and more, while introducing you to some of the great works of English literature from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, Allen Ginsberg's Howl, and James Baldwin’s essays to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Sylvia Plath’s Ariel, Becky Manawatu's Auē, and Tusiata Avia's Savage Coloniser Book. The paper also equips you with the skills to take your own stand on debates over classic texts that continue to divide their readers.
About this paper
| Paper title | Controversial Classics |
|---|---|
| Subject | English |
| EFTS | 0.15 |
| Points | 18 points |
| Teaching period | Semester 2 (On campus) |
| Domestic Tuition Fees ( NZD ) | $1,040.70 |
| International Tuition Fees | Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website. |
- Schedule C
- Arts and Music
- Eligibility
- There are no prerequisites for this paper, which develops skills in communication, critical thinking, and ethics relevant to students specialising in a wide range of disciplines.
- Contact
- More information link
View more information on the English and Linguistics Programme website
- Teaching staff
Convener: Professor Jacob Edmond
Lecturers: Professor Grace Moore
Professor Thomas McLean- Paper Structure
There are generally three or four 1-hour lectures per text and a 1-hour tutorial for each text, along with tutorials on close reading and essay writing. Tutorials are designed to focus on student participation in discussion.
- Teaching Arrangements
Two 1-hour lectures per week.
A 1-hour tutorial in selected weeks.
- Textbooks
- Course readings, available on eReserve and ancillary materials for each topic:
- Allen Ginsberg, Howl (City Lights).
- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (Penguin Classics).
- Sylvia Plath, Ariel.
- Becky Manawatu, Auē.
- Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (Penguin).
- Graduate Attributes Emphasised
Global perspective, Lifelong learning, Scholarship, Communication, Critical thinking, Cultural understanding, Ethics, Information literacy, Environmental literacy, Research, Self-motivation, Teamwork, Interdisciplinary learning.
View more information about Otago's graduate attributes.- Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete this paper will:
- Gain exposure to a range of literary texts and contexts and the ability to read them closely and with insight
- Gain the ability to judge and assess literary controversies, to understand the reasons for them and to make informed judgements about them
- Learn to reflect critically on how arguments about literary and artistic value relate to broader social, political, religious and ethical values and on how these arguments and values have changed over time
- Learn to develop a sustained argument, supported by textual and contextual evidence, about literary texts and controversies, both orally and in written form, in groups and individually
- Develop skills in editing and assessing their own writing
- Gain basic research skills through an essay assignment requiring them to investigate primary and secondary materials about a particular controversy
- Assessment details
The exact assessment structure is subject to confirmation but is likely to include:
- Regular in-class tutorial responses
- An essay
- A final exam