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21st Century Women Writers: Human/Nature

10 weekly sessions on campus, on Tuesdays at 11am-1pm, starting from Tuesday 30 September - we are no longer taking enrolments for this course.

Overview

On this course we’ll read and discuss five novels which explore the relationship between humans and the natural world in diverse ways and forms.

  • In Margaret Atwood’s apocalyptic Oryx and Crake (2003), humans assume the role of gods transforming themselves, animals and their world with disastrous consequences
  • In Han Kang's The Vegetarian (2007), a woman stops eating meat and this is the starting point for a devastating study of power, mental health and identity
  • Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (2009/2018) is narrated by an animal lover who values the landscape she inhabits. She’s also a woman in search of explanations for murder
  • In Samantha Harvey’s Orbital (2023), six astronauts examine their own lives as they observe the earth from the international space station
  • Sarah Perry’s Enlightenment (2024) looks to religion and astronomy in a tale of friendship and love. 

These texts look forwards and back, skywards and earthwards, interrogating the ways in which humans try to understand their world. This course will examine key themes from these examples of contemporary fiction, with particular emphasis on humans and their relationship to nature. Through reading and discussion, you'll develop knowledge of diverse forms of satiric, symbolic and scientific representation. 

This course will appeal to anyone interested in reading literary fiction which deals with significant contemporary issues. You'll be invited to contribute your own ideas on the set texts through responses to discussion topics. There will be large and small group activities. No prior knowledge is required.

Syllabus

Please note that this is indicative but not definitive.  It is possible that there may be some small changes to the format.

  • Week 1: Introduction - Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake
  • Week 2: Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake
  • Week 3: Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake
  • Week 4: Han Yang, The Vegetarian
  • Week 5: Olga Tokarczuk, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
  • Week 6: Olga Tokarczuk, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
  • Week 8: Samantha Harvey, Orbital
  • Week 9: Sarah Perry, Enlightenment
  • Week 10: Sarah Perry, Enlightenment.

Course lecturer 

At Continuing Education, Dr Shirley Jones currently runs courses on contemporary women's writing, and the thematic strand, The Monthly Novel. Previously Shirley has also taught courses on classic authors, such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Dorothy Wordsworth. Shirley's PhD was a study of the Victorian writer, Margaret Oliphant.

Outside of Continuing Education, Shirley is a member of a writers' group and runs the Redbrick Writers, a community writing group, at the Victoria Gallery and Museum.

Course fee

  • Standard fee: £155
  • Concession fee: £80.