HUM1016 Texts and Traditions: Assignment Two Research Essay
Due Date: 9 May, midnight, online via Turnitin submission point on course L@G site
Weight: 40%
This essay will demonstrate your ability to analyse literary texts and develop an argument that uses a close reading of the textual material from Module Two (Devil in a Blue Dress or the American poetry) to address the theme of place that is central to this semester’s work.
TASK
Select one of the following topics and write a 1500 word essay that explores and answers the question by drawing on both your analysis of the text and critical material that you have found through scholarly research.
Topic 1: ‘Whilst the plot of Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress pays homage to the American tradition of detective fiction, its real concern is the question of the role of African-American history in contemporary American life.’ Discuss with reference to Mosley’s novel (not the film adaptation).
Topic 2: ‘Poetry can be a way of addressing the past of a place and its present at the same time.’ Discuss with reference to either the poetry of the San Francisco counterculture OR the landscape poetry of the Pacific North-West.
Topic 3: Compare and contrast the different ways in which the sense of place is made central to an understanding of personal identity in Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dressand EITHERthe poems of the San Francisco counterculture OR the landscape poetry of the Pacific North-West.
Criteria & Marking:
1. A clear statement of your key theme or thesis in the introductory paragraphs.
2. Use of relevant evidence from primary sources (novel and/or poems).
3. Use of relevant material from secondary sources.
4. A well written and clearly organised argument.
5. Development of an informed and creative response to the topic.
6. Correct citation of sources
7. Submitted work has been proof-read: there are no grammatical or spelling errors
