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ENG32840

Academic Year 2024/2025

Literature and Justice (ENG32840)

Subject:
English
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
English, Drama & Film
Level:
3 (Degree)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Ms Rachel Fehily
Trimester:
Autumn
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

PURPOSE AND OVERARCHING CONTENT
ENG32840 AUTUMN 2024
Co-convenors: Professor Eamonn Jordan, Rachel Fehily, MA, BL

PURPOSE: This third year module offers students an original, unique and ambitious opportunity to gain interdisciplinary knowledge through engagement with Literature from Page, Stage, Screen, Song and Musical Theatre, academic writers, critical thinkers and academic lawyers with a special interest in Literature and Justice; to focus their critical thinking on representations of laws, the legal system, justice, injustice and retribution in core literature and the opportunity to access current academic discourse. It offers students the opportunity to engage with these works, understand their ethical implications, their relevance to the articulation of human, social and cultural values, and transform their assumptions about the importance and effect of the representation of advocacy, justice, laws and the legal system. Students will examine each theme and/or representation and understand the particular forms of expression and how they rely or break with their own contexts and conventions, depending on their thematic focus and genre.

OVERARCHING CONTENT: Representations of the Legal System, Justice, Injustice and Retribution on Page, Stage, Screen, Song and Musical Theatre. Core Literature, Primary Texts and Secondary Readings, Thematic Approaches, Q and A with a practicing Judge/Barrister. For example, the lyrics of a protest song, the performance of a musical, a literary novel, an Irish play are different modes of representation of the content on the module. Critical readings will be chosen to evaluate the primary text.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

LEARNING OUTCOMES
ENG32840 AUTUMN 2024

On successful completion of the module students will:

(1) Have gained interdisciplinary insight into how themes relating to laws, legal systems, justice, injustice and retribution are represented on page, stage, screen, song and musical theatre.

(2) Explored a range of works including novels, plays, films, musical theatre, music lyrics and mini-series, each with different themes, that have been impactful and engaging as cultural productions.

(3) Become familiar with many legal terms, develop a strong working vocabulary of the key terms and concepts used to analyse representations of laws, legal systems, justice, injustice and retribution in the creative arts.

(4) Considered the various ways that writers, artists and composers represent laws, legal systems, justice, injustice and retribution.

(5) Analysed the social and political purposes behind the representations of laws, legal systems and its mechanisms in literature, drama, musical theatre, music lyrics, film and digital streaming services.

Indicative Module Content:

MODULE INDICATIVE CURRICULAR CONTENT
ENG32480 AUTUMN 2024

Each seminar has a thematic focus and a schedule of core texts and readings will be given in advance of the module commencement.

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

75
Autonomous Student Learning

105
Seminar (or Webinar)

20
Total

200

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
APPROACHES TO TEACHING AND LEARNING
ENG32840 AUTUMN 2024

This module is seminar based. Students are expected to have engaged with the literature for that week in advance of each seminar. The course has a lecture and discursive part to each seminar each week and these sessions focus on distinctive aspects of the works and will tend to be practical and theoretical. The students will closely read and critically evaluate the construction of concepts of representation, social reality, discourse and consensus through works that communicate and inscribe ideas about law, the legal system, justice, injustice and retribution, and examine the theories and discourses around the specific cultural productions.

Each seminar will be based around a theme and/or particular works on page, stage, screen, song, musical theatre, and a reading. The context and conventions of the work, and the position of each reading in relation to laws, the legal system, justice, and injustice. I will screen clips from works to present students with examples of particular themes and representations. Each seminar will also be based around a class discussion of the work and reading; the context, the style, the impact.

The students will have an opportunity to communicate with each other in small groups or partners within the seminars and there will also be some whole class discussions.

An interview in the form of a Q and A with questions from the students, with a barrister (Senior Counsel or Judge) on issues of importance around representations of justice in literature will comprise one seminar.

Professor Eamonn Jordan will lead one seminar on his speciality subject and recently authored book: 'Justice and the Plays and Films of Martin McDonagh'

Four responses to themes on the module of around 500 words (4 paragraphs) will be completed by the students with guidance and feedback from the course convenor as part of the module.

A 3,500 word essay based on the module content will be completed by the students with guidance and feedback from the course convenor as part of the module.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): End of Semester Essay of 3500 words based on the primary course material that will build on the continuous assessment, critical readings and discussions covered over weeks 1-10 Week 14 Graded Yes
65
 Yes
Portfolio: Four short response pieces to assigned work over the course of the term. Time and guidance will be given during seminars for the completion of the response pieces 500 words each. Week 2, Week 4, Week 6, Week 8 Graded Yes
35
 Yes

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Online automated feedback

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback in relation to essay, assignments and class discussion contributions will be given individually and via online automated feedback of essay correction.

MODULE READING LIST (INDICATIVE)
ENG32840 AUTUMN SEMESTER 2024

The Reading List will include: Primary texts from Page, Stage, Screen, Song and Musicals,
Links to Short relevant Secondary Readings for each text will be available.


Core Text:
Fortier, Mark, Literature and the Law, Methuen (2019)

Name Role
Professor Eamonn Jordan Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Autumn Seminar Offering 1 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Thurs 12:00 - 13:50
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