How to Read a Novel - The University of Edinburgh
FutureLearn
Key Information
Campus location
Online United Kingdom
Languages
English
Study format
Distance Learning
Duration
4 weeks
Pace
Part time
Tuition fees
USD 74 *
Application deadline
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Earliest start date
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* you can learn it for free or upgrade the course and have extra benefits for $74
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Introduction
Get underneath the skin of a novel by understanding some of the main building blocks of modern fiction.
Get more from your reading
What makes a great novel? How is a novel woven together? How can we best appreciate works of fiction?
Answer these questions and more with this course from The University of Edinburgh and the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
On the course you’ll discover four of the main building blocks of modern fiction: plot, characterisation, dialogue, and setting using examples from a range of texts including the four novels shortlisted for the 2021 James Tait Black fiction prize. You’ll also explore the formal strategies authors use, how they came to be, and how they affect us as readers.
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and learn at your own pace. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
- Available now
Who will you learn with?
Benjamin Bateman Benjamin Bateman is Lecturer in Post-1900 British Literature at The University of Edinburgh. He teaches and publishes on modern and contemporary fiction, queer theory, and the environmental humanities. | Carolina Buffoli Carolina Buffoli is a researcher and Tutor of English Literature at the University of Edinburgh. Her research interest focuses on contemporary Anglophone literature, trauma studies and the Gothic. |
Who developed the course?
The University of Edinburgh
Founded in 1583, the University of Edinburgh is one of the world’s top universities and is globally recognised for research, innovation and high-quality teaching.
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Ideal Students
Who is the course for
This course is for anyone who enjoys reading. You don’t need any past experience. You don’t need to have read all four books before you commence the course, but you may find it enhances your learning experience if you have.
Curriculum
What topics will you cover
- The course examines specific techniques relating to plotting and temporality including flashbacks, unreliable narration and framed narratives.
- The course considers ways of understanding character, such as behaviour and motives.
- It explores issues relating to the presentation of dialogue, including conversational mood and dialect voices.
- The course examines the impact of various different settings on the development of plot and character.
- It invites learners to test their understanding through weekly quizzes and a final peer assessment task.
- The four novels explored for this course are:
- Week 1 (Plot): A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet
- Week 2 (Characterisation): The First Woman by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
- Week 3 ( Dialogue): Alligator & Other Stories by Dima Alzayat
- Week 4 (Setting): Lote by Shola von Reinhold
Program Outcome
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to:
- Identify key strategies used by authors to alter the temporal progression of the narrative.
- Reflect on the effects generated by a narrative frame.
- Evaluate novels for signs of narrative unreliability.
- Discuss my reading of contemporary fiction with a large online learning community.
- Explore ways of understanding character, such as behaviour, speech, and motives.
- Explore the impact of various settings on the development of character and plot.
- Evaluate the effect of different ways of presenting dialogue, and the impact of dialect speech.