How do words get their meaning? What’s the relationship between meaning and ambiguity? How do the styles and methods of writing impact upon the reader’s styles and methods of thinking? How do the methods of repetition, symmetry, and symmetry breaking alter a text’s reception? Do we think in metaphors, and can the connections and connotations they form encourage us to adopt certain perspectives on life?

These are the questions we pursue together in Time, Meaning & Utopia, reading together a true classic of 20th Century science fiction. Its political clashes, its two-world geography, the creation and subversion of character, and the author’s use of structure to represent her poltical philosophy will be the topics to which we apply our new-found critical reading skills.

This is a Close Reading module, part two of an introductory series intended to prepare our students for the demands of higher education.

Each week our students complete a small written task, and take part in both a three-hour lecture and a three-hour writing workshop, where the principles of close reading, research and academic essay writing are taught. At the end of each module our students must produce a 2000 word essay in order to be considered for upgrade to our accredited modules.