Prospectus

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Literature 3B: Eighteenth-Century British Literature

Course
2017-2018

Admission requirements

Literature 1A and Literature 2, or equivalent.

Description

Literature 3B is a survey course covering developments in British poetry and prose fiction during the eighteenth century. The literary works on the reading list will be read in relation to various aesthetic and historical contexts, and in the light of key concepts such as enlightenment, reason, decorum, the self, faith, the public sphere, sensibility and the imagination. Because the novel is such a dominant literary form in our own time, we will study in detail the eighteenth-century genesis and development of this genre. Other topics covered are stylistic and thematic developments from Neoclassicism through Sensibility towards various types of Romanticism.

Course objectives

By the end of the course students will have:

  • a firm general knowledge and understanding of the major stylistic, structural and thematic developments in eighteenth-century British literature.

  • a thorough understanding of the relationship and difference between literary categories such as Neoclassicism, Sensibility and Romanticism.

  • the knowledge to place individual literary works in key historical contexts.

  • further developed their academic research and writing skills by writing a literary-critical essay, with a smaal research component.

Timetable

The timetable is available on the BA English website

Mode of instruction

  • Seminars

  • Self-motivated study of assigned reading

Course Load

The course load for this course is 140 hours, divided approximately as follows:

19.5 hours tutorial
78 hours reading (6 hours a week on average)
26.5 hours exam preparation
16 hours researching and writing the essay assignment

Assessment method

Assessment

  • 1-hour exam in October

  • 1-hour exam in December or January

  • 1200-1500-word essay with a small research component (two academic essays)

  • Take-home exam

Weighing

  • 1-hour exam in October (15%).

  • 1-hour exam in December or January (15%).

Both exams primarily test students’ contextual knowledge (cultural-historical contexts, a selection of scholarly articles)

  • 1200-1500-word essay with a small research component (two academic essays), presented according to the rules of the MLA stylesheet (25%).

  • Take-home exam in December or January, consisting of 400-word essays (45%).

A minimum mark of 5.5 for the two 1-hour exams; a minimum mark of 6 for the essay and take-home exam

Resit

Insufficient components can be retaken.

Exam review

How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.

Attendance

Attendance is compulsory. Missing more than three tutorials means that students will be excluded from taking the exam (or essay or other assignments) and resits. Consequently, the course cannot be completed during that particular academic year. Unauthorized absence also applies to being unprepared and/or not bringing the relevant course materials to class.

Blackboard

Blackboard will be used to provide students with an overview of current affairs, as well as specific information about (components of) the course.

Reading list

  • Warburton, Nigel. The Basics of Essay Writing (Routledge)

  • Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe (Penguin)

  • Fielding, Henry. Joseph Andrews (Oxford World’s Classics)

  • Godwin, William. Caleb Williams (Oxford World’s Classics)

  • Greenblatt, Stephen, et al (eds.), The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 9th edition, 2 Vols (Norton)

  • Radcliffe, Ann, A Sicilian Romance (Oxford World’s Classics)

  • Richardson, Samuel. Pamela (Oxford World’s Classics)

  • Syllabus

Registration

Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available in English and Dutch

Students other than BA English language and culture studies need permission from the coordinator of studies before enrolling.

Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs

Registration Studeren à la carte
Registration Contractonderwijs

Contact

Please contact Student administration van Eyckhof for questions.

Remarks

The reading for week 1 is: “Introduction to the Restoration and the Eighteenth Century (1660-1785)” and Aphra Behn, “Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, volume 1.