M/ENG4022/Sem2/May2019/2
ST MARY’S UNIVERSITY
TWICKENHAM, LONDON
BA/BSc Degree Examination students registered for
Level FOUR
Title: An Introduction to Narrative: Contemporary Fiction
Code: ENG4022
Semester: TWO
Date: May 16th 2019
Time: 9:30 – 11:30 AM
TIME ALLOWED: TWO HOURS
You must answer two questions. In the exam as a whole, you should make
substantial reference to at least two novels, of which at least one must be either
Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending or Zadie Smith’s White Teeth. you may also
draw on any of the other novels we have read on the course.
1) ‘One feature of contemporary fiction is that, try as they might, characters can
never atone for, or be forgiven for, past mistakes.’ Discuss.
2) ‘Childhood and youth are phases of life in which we lose (rather than find)
ourselves.’
Assess this pessimistic view of childhood and/or youth with reference to one or
more novels you have read on this module.
3) ‘”Do you think anybody is English? Really English? It's a fairy tale!”’ (Alsana
speaking in Zadie Smith’s White Teeth.)
Discuss the representation of ethnic, cultural or national identity in one or more
novels you have read on this module.
4) ‘Contemporary fiction tends not have one authorial or narrative “voice”, but
many, the better to reflect the complex world it.’ Discuss, with reference to one
or two novels you’ve read on this module.
5) ‘Far from representing the successes of feminism and the emancipation of
women, contemporary fiction – whether written by male or female authors –
gives us female characters who are oppressed either by new forms of
patriarchy, or by their own desires.’ Do you agree? Discuss with reference to
one or more novels you had read on this module.
6) ‘Early in the morning, late in the century, Cricklewood Broadway…Squeezed
between an almighty concrete cinema complex at one end and a giant
intersection at the other, Cricklewood was no kind of place. It was not a place
Page 1 of 2
ST MARY’S UNIVERSITY
TWICKENHAM, LONDON
BA/BSc Degree Examination students registered for
Level FOUR
Title: An Introduction to Narrative: Contemporary Fiction
Code: ENG4022
Semester: TWO
Date: May 16th 2019
Time: 9:30 – 11:30 AM
TIME ALLOWED: TWO HOURS
You must answer two questions. In the exam as a whole, you should make
substantial reference to at least two novels, of which at least one must be either
Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending or Zadie Smith’s White Teeth. you may also
draw on any of the other novels we have read on the course.
1) ‘One feature of contemporary fiction is that, try as they might, characters can
never atone for, or be forgiven for, past mistakes.’ Discuss.
2) ‘Childhood and youth are phases of life in which we lose (rather than find)
ourselves.’
Assess this pessimistic view of childhood and/or youth with reference to one or
more novels you have read on this module.
3) ‘”Do you think anybody is English? Really English? It's a fairy tale!”’ (Alsana
speaking in Zadie Smith’s White Teeth.)
Discuss the representation of ethnic, cultural or national identity in one or more
novels you have read on this module.
4) ‘Contemporary fiction tends not have one authorial or narrative “voice”, but
many, the better to reflect the complex world it.’ Discuss, with reference to one
or two novels you’ve read on this module.
5) ‘Far from representing the successes of feminism and the emancipation of
women, contemporary fiction – whether written by male or female authors –
gives us female characters who are oppressed either by new forms of
patriarchy, or by their own desires.’ Do you agree? Discuss with reference to
one or more novels you had read on this module.
6) ‘Early in the morning, late in the century, Cricklewood Broadway…Squeezed
between an almighty concrete cinema complex at one end and a giant
intersection at the other, Cricklewood was no kind of place. It was not a place
Page 1 of 2
