Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE LAS2051

 
TITLE British Fiction in the Nineteenth Century

 
UM LEVEL H - Higher Level

 
MQF LEVEL 6

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Centre for the Liberal Arts and Sciences

 
DESCRIPTION
The nineteenth century was one of the most prosperous and innovative centuries in various respects, not least literary production. In Britain, the literary world flourished: the century saw the rise of the novel and, for the first time, the sustained contribution of women writers. It will be remembered for the publication of outstanding works by writers like the Brontë sisters, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Bram Stoker, William Makepeace Thackeray, Anthony Trollope and Oscar Wilde. Their works have been and still are a source of inspiration for generations of readers, writers, film producers and more.

The first two lectures will be used to introduce the era to the students: the contemporary social, political, religious, scientific and artistic milieus will be presented through contemporary non-fiction, and audio and visual material, like photos, videos and reliable websites. Notions like genre (for example, detective fiction and the New Woman novel), literary conventions (for example, the fallen woman and the return convention) and stylistic features (for instance, narrative voice and perspective) will be discussed alongside central themes, including the gender divide and the two spheres; realism and psychology; the individual versus society; and endorsement and subversion of literary and social conventions. The intention is to engage the students in informed and structured discussions on this vast literary legacy that never ceases to fascinate people of all ages and from all walks of life.

The amount of fiction written during this period is impressive and the number of writers is also remarkable; therefore, only a number of selected texts will be given close attention (See list of Main Texts). The lectures will be planned as follows: I will introduce the writer (his life and works) briefly and then present the students with a few passages from a selected text and start a discussion on genre, setting, characterization, thematic concerns and style. Students will be prepared beforehand due to a schedule distributed on the first day of the course.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Appreciate the relevance of the nineteenth-century British novel in the literary world and beyond;
- Discern and appreciate recurrent thematic concerns in British novels of the nineteenth century
- Discern and appreciate idiosyncratic writing styles of the major novelists of the period
- Understand trends in nineteenth-century British literature and culture

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Speak at length and in depth about the texts under discussion
- Write structured critical evaluations of the texts under discussion
- Relate Victorian novels to the broader literary scope

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Main Texts:

- Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre [1847] (Penguin: London, 2006).
- Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights [1847] (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2009).
- Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White [1859] (Penguin: London, 2003).
- Charles Dickens, Great Expectations [1861] (Penguin: London, 2004).
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet [1887] (Penguin: London, 2001).
- George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss [1860] (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2015).
- Elizabeth Gaskell, Ruth [1854] (Penguin: London, 1997).
- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbervilles [1891] (Penguin: London, 2003).
- Bram Stoker, Dracula [1894] (HarperCollins: London, 2011).
- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray [1890] (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2008).

Online Text

- Internet Archive ( https://archive.org )
- HathiTrust Digital Library ( https://hathitrust.org )

Supplementary Readings:

- Deirdre David, ed., The Cambridge Companion to the Victorian Novel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
- Barbara Dennis, The Victorian Novel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
- Walter E. Houghton, The Victorian Frame of Mind, 1830-1870 (London: Yale University Press, 1985).
- David Skilton, ed., The Early and Mid-Victorian Novel (London: Routledge, 1993).

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S Graziella Stringos

 

 
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It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

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