| Unit name | Novel Territories: Eighteenth-century Prose Fiction |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGL30115 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Codsi |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
Whose ‘territory’ is the novel? Does the novel belong to the author, the bookseller, the reader, or the reviewer? This unit is unique in that it asks you to think about the origins of the novel as a literary form in the eighteenth century. In learning about authorship, paratextual advertising, reception, and adaptations, you will gain a thorough understanding of the novel as a changing form in the early eighteenth to early nineteenth century. The unit considers the novel through its relationship to other genres including Secret Histories, Amatory Fiction, and Romance. You will engage with theoretical approaches including early feminisms and Orientalism in the works of female and male writers including Haywood, Defoe, Montagu and Burney. The unit therefore invites you to engage with important questions about gender, race, and class; provides a solid foundation for studying the novel in later literary periods; and builds upon themes and approaches in previous units, including Literature 1740-1900.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
Exploration units offer thought-provoking and engaging investigations into key topics, including period-focused, thematic, and trans-historical options. You will hone your abilities as a researcher able to navigate skilfully a range of databases and archives, as well as engaging effectively with more advanced critical and theoretical perspectives. Exploration units ask you to both rethink the familiar and meet the unexpected, and encourage you to develop depth as well as breadth of critical understanding.
An overview of content
This unit will introduce students to a range of experimental forms that trace the rise of the novel through the long eighteenth-century. Students will engage with such themes as literary experimentation, reason, sensibility and sexuality, class, personal identity, slavery, and emancipation; and learn about a range of forms from amatory fiction to travel narrative. Rather than tracing a passage through a succession of canonical “greats”, the course will address (and question the separation between) “high” and “low” forms of narrative fiction, introducing students to historical and modern critical debates. The unit raises important questions about the origins of the novel; anonymity and pseudonymity; the relationship of the novel to other forms of writing (romance, newspapers, letters, or political pamphlets); the impact of literacy; and the significance of the gender of both authors and readers.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
On completion of the unit students will have had the opportunity to engage with archives and databases of eighteenth-century writing; gain an increased understanding of eighteenth-century print culture, including newspapers, reviews, journals, illustrations, and book publishing; and refine their understanding of eighteenth-century literature and culture in ways that not only connect to the content of this unit, but will provide valuable research skills and independent study skills for their dissertation. The aims of the unit are for students to develop a sophisticated, critically reflective understanding of these phenomena, based on research and study including online archives and databases; and to enhance skills of analysis and communication.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:
The unit is taught by seminars and a programme of cohort sessions. Teaching includes group discussion, research and writing activities, and peer dialogue. Students are expected to attend all timetabled teaching, engage with the reading, and participate fully with the weekly tasks and topics. Learning will be further supported through the opportunity for individual consultation.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
1,500 word coursework (50%) [ILOs 1-3].
2.5hr exam (50%) [ILOs 1-4].
When assessment does not go to plan
When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the format or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are confirmed by the School/Centre shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the year.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. ENGL30115).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
