Page 90 - HKSYU Prospectus 2023-24

Shue Yan University Prospectus 2023-24

ENG 479 Science Fiction in Literature and Films
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course is designed to introduce to students both the historical development and
narrative structure of science fiction as a unique genre within the context of the postmodernist
movement. Through a body of cultural texts such as short stories, novellas, and sci-fi films,
students will be introduced to topics such as alternate history, artificial intelligence, cyberpunk,
cloning and genetic engineering, cyborg and posthumanism, nanotechnology, singularity, etc.
Critical concepts and theories will also be applied to analyse the texts.

ENG 480 Special Topic in Literature
1 Term; 3 Credits
The course is a focused examination of a selected topic in literary studies. Among
possible topics are the following: a specific author, literary movement, historical period, genre,
or critical theory; creative writing or literary journalism; an emerging interdisciplinary area such
as digital humanities, literature and the other arts, or the graphic novel.

ENG 484 Romantics and Romantic Sceptics
1 Term; 3 Credits
The course covers the Romantic period in Britain, a period characterized by radical ideas
and rebellion against tradition and convention, both in politics and in literature. The syllabus
contains a broad selection of texts by the most prominent poets, novelists, and thinkers of the
time. This course aims to introduce students to Romantic ideologies about poetry, society and
nature which are still with us. We will discuss how the Romantics conceived of literary form and
what contemporaneous philosophical ideas they drew upon.

ENG 485 Victorian Literature and Society
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course focuses on the novels of the Victorian age (c. 1837-1900). It will approach a
few key Victorian novels through a number of key issues: science, industrialization, colonialism,
city and poverty, judicial systems, aesthetics and so on. Multiple critical approaches will also
be included, such as Romanticism, Social Darwinism, Historicism and Neo-historicism,
Aestheticism and Decadence, Gothicism and many more. Students will explore important
social, cultural, and intellectual issues of the period and consider how literary writers engaged
with the concerns of their time. They will come across how the Victorians depict the conflicts
and collaborations of ideological issues in that vibrant yet turbulent era. By the end of the
course, students will learn to recognize and analyse the intersections between Victorian
literature and society and evaluate its continuing significance in the contemporary world.

ENG 486 Issues in Pragmatics
1 Term; 3 Credits
Within the broader field of linguistics, pragmatics has increasingly established itself as an
independent discipline of scientific inquiry with its own theories and research methods. This

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