MODULE SPECIFICATION

Code: UPGPFH-30-3 Title: Literature and Culture in Britain 1885 – 1915 Version: 4

Level: 3 UWE credit rating: 30 ECTS credit rating: 15

Module type: Standard

Owning Faculty: Social Sciences and Humanities Field: English

Faculty Committee approval: QSC Date: 16 June 2010

Approved for Delivery by:

Valid from: September 2010 Discontinued from:

Contributes towards: Awards up to BA(Hons)

Pre-requisites: UPGPDC-60-1 - Approaches to Literature and Criticism

Co-requisites: None

Entry requirements:

Excluded combinations: None

Learning outcomes:

On successful completion of this module students should be able to demonstrate:

1. familiarity with the formal and generic properties of the texts studied (assessed through Component A of assessment);

2. a critical awareness of the key philosophical, social and cultural movements of the period 1885-1915 and how these influence the texts studied (assessed through all elements of Components A and B of assessment);

3. how appropriate discursive frameworks shape particular texts (assessed through all elements of Components A and B of assessment);

4. how particular critical approaches can inform interpretation of texts (assessed through all elements of Components A and B of assessment);

5. a familiarity with appropriate bibliographical sources and retrieval skills (assessed through both elements of Component B of assessment).

Syllabus outline:

The content of the module will be based on a selection of the following topics:

§ the conventions and development of fiction, drama and discursive writing in the period;

§ the imaginative possibilities of various modes and genres, including realism and naturalism, detective fiction, the gothic, science fiction, utopian writing, the periodical essay;

§ the evolution of new forms of subjectivity, psychological awareness and self-consciousness;

§ the impact of ideas of aestheticism and modernist experiment in related arts: art, architecture, music and theatre.

§ the salience of literary debates involving “scandalous” subject matter (e.g. the “new woman”, female sexuality and the female body) and its treatment by writers;

§ the representation in texts of anxieties about class and gender relations in the context of debates about race, empire and nationhood, with specific attention to the concepts of decadence, degeneration, regeneration and cultural renewal;

§ the impact of mass culture and consumerism with particular reference to authorship and literary production and to competing definitions and expectations of the male and female writer;

§ the representation in texts of forms of political consciousness, in particular, socialism and humanitarianism;

§ the development of forms of self-conscious secularism, including the uses of Darwinism, paganism, vitalism and spiritualism;

Teaching and learning methods:

The module will be taught through a combination of tutor-led lectures and presentations, seminars and student presentations. One-to-one tutorials will be available to students

Reading Strategy

Indicative Reading List:

The following list is offered to provide validation panels/accrediting bodies with an indication of the type and level of information students may be expected to consult. As such, its currency may wane during the life span of the module specification. However, as indicated above, CURRENT advice on readings will be available via other more frequently updated mechanisms.

Boehmer, Elleke (ed.).

Empire Writing (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).

Conrad, Joseph.

The Secret Agent (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1907).

Doyle, Arthur Conan.

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902; Harmondsworth: Penguin. 1987).

Egerton, George.

Keynotes and Discords (1893/4; Birmingham: Birmingham University Press. 2003).

Forster, E.M.

Howards End (1910; Harmondsworth: Penguin. 1975).

 

Maurice (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971).

Gissing, George

New Grub Street (1891; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994).

 

The Odd Women (1893; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).

Hardy, Thomas,

“On the Western Circuit” (1891); “An Imaginative Woman” (1894) [from Life’s Little Ironies (1894; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996)].

 

Jude the Obscure (1895; Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984).

Ibsen, Henrik.

Hedda Gabler in Ibsen: Plays Two (London: Methuen, 1985).

James, Henry.

The Ambassadors (1903; Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1997).

Ledger, Sally and Roger Luckhurst (eds.).

The Fin de Siècle: A Reader in Cultural History c.1880-1900 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).

Richardson, Angelique and Chris Willis (eds.).

The New Woman in Fiction and in Fact (London: Palgrave, 2001).

Trotter, David.

The English Novel in History 1895-1920 (London: Routledge, 1993).

Wells, H.G.

The War of the Worlds (1898; Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1998).

Wilde, Oscar.

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891; Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985).

Assessment

Weighting between components A and B (standard modules only) A: 25% B: 75%

ATTEMPT 1

First Assessment Opportunity (Sit)

Component A

Description of each element Element weighting

1 Exam (1.5 hours) 25%

Component B

Description of each element Element weighting

1 Essay (2,000 words) 20%

2 Contextual Analysis (750 words) 10%

3 Essay (4,000 words) FINAL 45%

Second Assessment Opportunity (Resit) (further attendance at taught classes is not required)

Component A

Description of each element Element weighting

1 Exam (1.5 hours) 25%

Component B

Description of each element Element weighting

1 Essay (2,000 words) 20%

2 Contextual Analysis (500 words) 10%

3 Essay (4000 words) 45%

EXCEPTIONAL SECOND ATTEMPT (Retake): Attendance at taught classes is required.

Specification confirmed by …………………………………………………Date ……………………………

(Associate Dean/Programme Director)

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