| Unit name | Literature 1740-1900 |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGL20063 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Tara Puri |
| 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?
This unit will introduce students to a range of literature across the 160 years covered: eighteenth-century fiction; romantic period writing; Victorian poetry; the mid- and late-Victorian novel and the writing of the Decadents and Aesthetes of 1880s and 1890s. In doing so the unit will enable students to engage with such ideas as Enlightenment, sensibility, radicalism and political revolution, Europe, urbanisation and industrialisation, class, empire, personhood, gender identity and sexual inequality, outsider status, and emancipation. The unit will expose students to a range of literary forms, elite, popular and middlebrow. All the works included will be discussed in the context of the historical and modern critical discussions which have arisen around them; the philosophical, religious and aesthetic debates they contribute to will be brought forward. The unit raises major questions about: the evolution of new genres, including that of ‘the literary’; the role of the author and the social utility of art; poetry and poetics; the power of gender, sexual, national, class and racial identities; and the interplay between literature, widening literacy and national education.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
Core units provide an accessible and stimulating introduction to university-level English. You will gain knowledge and insight of literary forms, from poetry and prose to critical essays and drama. You will practice essential academic skills in close analysis and argument, encounter key critical concepts, and develop your confidence as a researcher. Core units will further enable you to understand and appreciate the importance of historical contexts from the medieval period to the present day, and the development of literary studies as a discipline.
Overview of Content
This unit engages with a range of different writers, genres, historical and cultural contexts, and themes between 1740 – 1900. Mapping the literary history of this period through the growth of the novel (Richardson’s Pamela, Equiano’s Interesting Narrative, Eliot’s Middlemarch), as well key developments like Romanticism, the Gothic, and the Woman Question, the unit begins in the mid-18th century and ends with the fin de siècle’s interest in decadence, aestheticism, degeneration and art for art’s sake.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit?
On completion of this unit students will be able to demonstrate advanced knowledge and understanding of the diverse, lively and challenging literary history of this period. They will also be able to articulate how these texts engaged with, intervened in, and contested contemporary political, social and cultural discourses, by approaching them through a range of appropriate theoretical and critical frameworks.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
The unit is taught by seminars and a lecture programme. 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):
1,000 word coursework (40%) [ILOs 1-4].
2,000 word essay (60%) [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. ENGL20063).
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.
