Unit information: Surrealism: Pleasure and Provocation in 1920s Textual and Visual Culture in 2022/23

Unit name	Surrealism: Pleasure and Provocation in 1920s Textual and Visual Culture
Unit code	FREN30040
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Professor. Harrow
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	None
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None
Units you may not take alongside this one	None
School/department	Department of French
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Unit Information

This unit explores the explosive Surrealist project of the 1920s through key works in literature (poetry, narrative and theatre), visual culture and film. Taking as our immediate starting-point the historical pressures and the possibilities of the post-First World War period, we look at how seismic shifts in critical thought (in particular, the theories of Freud) and in aesthetic practice (the international avant-garde projects including Futurism and Dadaism) precipitated the Surrealist moment. The Unit focuses on close reading of selected key texts and images in the Surrealist adventure. It takes those close readings forward in the context of a longer diachronic view that will enable us to situate Surrealism as part of a transhistorical, transnational project.

The aims are:

1. to develop skills of critical analysis and evaluation
2. to deepen understanding of creative and cultural values, especially in relation to cultural modernity
3. to engage students in the confident, well-founded and persuasive discussion of works taken from a variety of genre and media
4. to consolidate advanced students’ skills of writing and oral discussion

Your learning on this unit

By the end of the Unit, students will be able to

1. Demonstrate a sound understanding of the creative values informing Surrealist aesthetics and practice through the group-assessed curation of a digital mini-exhibition (images) and through the timed assessment (textual and visual culture);
2. Understand cultural and creative developments in France in the first half of the twentieth century relative to gender, transnationalism, and the migration and intermediality of ideas;
3. Analyse in depth critical and theoretical reactions to the literary, visual and other cultural outputs studied, and make appropriate use of these in their own writing; show an appreciation of how cultural background may inform reading and viewing;
4. Carry out both independent and collaborative research inquiry appropriate to level H with a sense of the consolidation of skills between levels of study in the building of the degree programme;
5. Demonstrate their ability to articulate a critical position appropriate to level H.

How you will learn

A mixture of ‘open’ lectures and seminars with student participation in both formats actively encouraged. (2 hours per week: 1 lecture, 1 seminar)

How you will be assessed

Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):

One group-assessed curated digital mini-exhibition (40%) [ILO’s 1-5]

One timed assessment (60%) [ILO’s 1-5]

When assessment does not go to plan

When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the form or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are normally confirmed by the School shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the academic year.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. FREN30040).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.