EN3MAT: Margaret Atwood

Module code: EN3MAT

Module provider: English Literature; School of Humanities

Credits: 20

Level: 6

When you’ll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Dr Madeleine Davies , email: m.k.davies@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s): At least 40 credits of EN-coded modules at Part 1 (except for visiting students) (Open)

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: No placement specified

Academic year: 2025/6

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 22 April 2025

Overview

Module aims and purpose

Margaret Atwood is Canada's most influential contemporary writer. Atwood consistently engages with issues of power ('who can do what to whom and get away with it') and her work also connects with a wide range of contemporary environmental and feminist debates. On this module we discuss topics including speculative fiction, ideology, genre, ecology, and feminism, engaging with the texts via close analysis and appropriate critical/theoretical reading. The module explores a selection of Atwood's novels (usually, The Edible Woman, The Handmaid's Tale, Cat’s Eye, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and Oryx and Crake) and two weeks of teaching are reserved for each novel. This pace allows us to generate detailed analysis and it ensures that the reading load is manageable. Atwood’s poetry and critical writing may also be discussed but this is a module which focuses primarily on Atwood’s fiction. Assessment is via an in-class presentation worth 20% of the overall mark (‘Assessment 1’) and a 2500-word essay worth 80% of the module mark (‘Assessment 2’). There is no exam on this module.  

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to: 

1. apply discipline-specific practices of close reading, interpretative analysis and critical arguments.  
2. discuss and appraise published research, or equivalent advanced scholarship, within the field of English literature  
3. recognize what and how they have learnt, through self-reflection and through constructive dialogue with other people  
4. articulate their own and other people’s ideas concisely, accurately, and clearly

Module content

The module discusses selected novels by Margaret Atwood. Central to the module will be Atwood’s interrogation of debates around identity politics, power relationships, the environment, and testimony.  Emphasis will be placed on Atwood’s narrative strategies, modes of social critique, and her engagement with questions of sex and gender, science and technology, the environment, and posthumanism. Texts selected for study may include The Edible Woman, The Handmaid’s Tale, Cat’s Eye, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and Oryx and Crake. The texts are, however, selected annually and are therefore subject to change. Two weeks are reserved for the discussion of each novel and the module is assessed via an in-class presentation (‘Assessment 1’) and an assessed essay (‘Assessment 2’). 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Three seminar hours weekly, for which students are required to undertake preparatory reading. One hour of the allocated time will be used for an informal lecture; PP slides are made available in advance of the lecture. Preparatory materials for the weekly 2-hour seminar are available to students in advance on Blackboard.  

Students are also entitled to a half-hour tutorial on their formative submission.  

The weekly one-hour lecture is delivered in class and is designed to provide students with general information about the text studied that week; seminars are designed to produce detail and, in contrast to the lectures, lead with the analysis of text. The general viewpoint and the detail combine to produce nuanced interpretation. Skills and knowledge develop consistently as the module progresses. The seminar ‘preparation’ materials placed on Blackboard allow the students to prepare to actively participate in seminar debate. 

Study hours

At least 33.5 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Level 3 (i.e. foundation modules for Part 0) and Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Between Weeks 5 and 6, students can submit.

Reassessment

Additional costs