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English Prose (ENG -311): Course Outline(ENG -311)

Course description

This course aims to read fiction with an understanding of genre, technique, and form; to apply various critical strategies to literary texts; and to develop analytical writing skills appropriate to essays at the university level. It offers an introduction to the literary artists and intellectuals of our times. Above all, students can read with an increased understanding of the art of literature and, therefore, with more enjoyment and with a better grasp of fiction’s contribution to their understanding of the moral, social, and political forces that shape modern life. It also aims to familiarize the students with local English writers and their recurring themes. To make readers understand the distinct features of prose. The course will also be helpful for students in providing them with first-class models of essays to improve their writing skills.

Course objectives

  • Acquaint students with some of the leading prose writers of different periods
  • Provide awareness to the students about the development of English Prose from Bacon to Ruskin in thought and style
  • Make students understand how various techniques like satire, irony, pathos, parody, etc. influence prose composition
  • Familiarize the students with different forms of  prose writing

Teaching-learning Strategies

Teaching will be done through the lecture method with a combination of tasks/projects and presentations

Assessment and Examinations

Assessment will be done as per university/department policy.

Course contents

Unit-I: Aldous Huxley

  • Words and Behavior

Unit-II: Bertrand Russell

  • Philosophy and Politics
  • An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish
  • Ideas That Have Helped Mankind
  • Ideas That Have Harmed Mankind
  • The Functions of a Teacher

Unit-III: E.M. Forster

  • Tolerance

Unit-IV: Edward Said

  • Introduction to Culture and Imperialism

Unit-V: Noam Chomsky

  • Form and Meaning in Natural Languages
  • Intellectual and the State

Unit-VI: Nagugi WaThiong’O

  • On Abolition of the English Department
  • Decolonizing the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature

Unit-VII: Aime Cesaire

Discourse on Colonialism

Unit-IX: Ronald Barthes

  • The Death of the Author

Unit-IX: Arundhati Roy

  • The Language of Literature

Textbooks

Suggested Books