Victorian and Fin de Siècle Literature: 1830-1910
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| ENGL2009 | English | 2 | 20 | Autumn UK |
- Code
- ENGL2009
- School
- English
- Level
- 2
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Autumn UK
Summary
This module will enable students to explore the wide variety of Victorian and fin-de-siècle literature, with examples from fiction (both novels and short stories), critical writing, poetry and drama. It will examine changes in literary forms and genres over this period, as well as paying some attention to the contested transition between Victorianism and Modernism. The module is organised in terms of a number of interrelated themes, which may include: empire and race, class and crime, identity and social mobility, politics and social problems, gender and sexuality, literature and consumerism. Students are encouraged to make connections between the ways these themes are represented and explored in specific literary works, and larger changes in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century social, political, intellectual and publishing culture.
Target Students
Only available to second-year students on SH and JH English programmes, including 2+2 programmes; students participating in exchanges from the School partner institutions; and second or third-year students on the Liberal Arts programme.
Classes
- One 1-hour seminar each week for 12 weeks
- One 2-hour lecture each week for 12 weeks
Assessment
- Coursework 1: Coursework 1 - Mid-semester formative essay plan and bibliography
- 100% Coursework 2: Coursework 2 - End of semester 3,000-word summative essay
Assessed by end of autumn semester
Educational Aims
Aims:to provide an introduction to the variety of literaryworks produced during the period 1830-1910, and an understanding of their relationship with larger cultural changes during the same periodto develop the skills to identify and debate key themes of the period in relation to the literary works studiedLearning Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding:
- some knowledge and understanding of the defining features of literary works produced during the period 1830-1910 (A1).
- some knowledge and understanding of the relationship of those features to social, political and cultural contexts (A2).
Intellectual skills:
- the ability to think independently while giving due weight to the arguments of others (B2);
- the ability to understand complex ideas, and relate them to specific problems or questions (B3).
Professional practical skills:
- the ability to present a logical and sustained argument (C4);
- analyse texts with awareness of how the circumstances of authorship, textual presentation and audience in the period 1830-1910 affect what they communicate (C2).
Transferable skills:
- the ability to communicate effectively in writing (D2).