Swansea University has responded to calls for the English literature curriculum to be “decolonised” by launching a new module focusing on “hyper-contemporary” works of fiction. The module, which will focus on books longlisted each year for the International Dylan Thomas prize for writers under the age of 39, is the UK’s first course based on a contemporary book award. “If literature is to have any point for young people, it must be to examine and dismantle the structures that maintain white power. What they want to study isn’t stuffy white men from centuries ago,” said Swansea’s Nicholas Taylor-Collins, who described the new course as a landmark module for English literature. This year’s longlist, announced last week and hailed as a “a starburst of young literary talent”, has a particularly international flavour.

Source: The Guardian February 06, 2019 16:28 UTC