University of St Andrews

Key information

SCOTCAT credits : 15

ECTS credits : 7

Level : SCQF level 10

Semester: 2

Availability restrictions: Not automatically available to General Degree students

Planned timetable: To be arranged.

In the German nineteenth-century a class of prose fictions longer than short stories and shorter than novels enjoyed more critical and popular success than any other prose genre. Critics usually referred to these texts as novellas, harking back to an illustrious European tradition, and developing elaborate theories of what the novella was -- or, more importantly, of what it should be. This module will keep an open mind on the novella, putting the long stories themselves, rather than theories about them in the spotlight. What made these texts so popular, and so hotly debated by German critics? How does length influence the ways in which stories are composed, published, read and critiqued? In the module we will read six long stories from the period 1880 - 1941, attending to the ways in which these fictions tackle the themes of modernity.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisite(s): Permission of the German Honours Adviser

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact: 2 seminars and 1 surgery hour.

Scheduled learning hours: 33

Guided independent study hours: 117

Assessment pattern

As used by St Andrews: 2-hour Written Examination = 60%, Coursework = 40%

As defined by QAA
Written examinations : 60%
Practical examinations : 0%
Coursework: 40%

Re-assessment: 2-hour Written Examination = 60%, Coursework = 40%

Personnel

Module coordinator: Dr A T Cusack
Module teaching staff: Dr A Cusack