Prospectus

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Literature 4B: British Literature: The Nineteenth Century

Course
2017-2018

Admission requirements

Literature 1A and Literature 2, or equivalent.

Description

This course covers British literature and culture of the nineteenth century. We shall focus exclusively on prose fiction. There was a lot of great poetry written in the period, especially from 1798-1824, and I recommend you to seek it out and immerse yourself in it! However, we felt that the course as it stood did not do justice to the amazing richness of nineteenth-century fiction. The richness, power and beauty of the novels we shall discuss is immense. These novels take us directly into a period of immense cultural and social change, into the heart of the century that truly saw the birth of the modern world.

Course objectives

  • This course will extend and deepen the power of students’ literary critical analysis through in-depth consideration of texts.

  • Students will explore critical debates central to the literature of the nineteenth century.

  • The course will also aim to extend the students’ skills in the reading of narrative and the understanding of the relationship of a text to its cultural/social context.

  • Students will be encouraged to share analytical and critical views on the texts ascribed in class discussion, including, where needed, short presentations, and will focus research skills in the writing of a final essay.

  • This essay will be on a relevant subject of their own choice within the parameters of the course, and will further extend the students’ critical skills and their ability to produce good, clear writing.

  • A final exam will test students’ knowledge of the literature of the period, and give them an opportunity to display their insight, their familiarity with the texts, and the range of their critical ideas.

Timetable

The timetable is available on the BA English website

Mode of instruction

  • Lecture

  • Seminar

  • Research

Course Load

The course load of this course is 140 hours.

  • hours spent on attending lectures and seminars: 24

  • time for studying the compulsory literature: 80

  • time to prepare for the exam and/or write a paper (including reading / research): 36

Assessment method

Assessment

  • Essay(s)

  • Final Exam

Weighing

  • Essay(s) (50%):
    Two essays of 1200 words (25% each); or, one longer essay on a comparative subject (dealing with at least two texts featured on the syllabus) of 2500 words (50%).
    The essay/s is/are due in one week after your last class.

  • Final Exam (50%)
    This exam will feature questions about the literature on the syllabus. The questions are designed to allow students to formulate informative answers based on critical insight into Romantic and Victorian literature and knowledge of the various important contexts gained during the tutorial discussion and individual study.

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 for:

  • communication

  • information

  • submission of essays to turnitin to check for plagiarism

Reading list

  • Austen, Jane. (1813) Persuasion (Penguin Classics).

  • Shelley, Mary. (1818) Frankenstein (Penguin Classics).

  • Brontë, Emily. (1847) Wuthering Heights (Oxford World Classics).

  • Dickens, Charles. (1860-61) Great Expectations (Penguin Classics).

  • Eliot, George. (1861) Silas Marner (Penguin Classics).

  • Robert Louis Stevenson (1886) The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde (Oxford World’s Classics).

  • Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1891) (Oxford World’s Classics).

  • H. G. Wells, The Time Machine (1895) (Penguin Classics).

  • Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure (1895) (Penguin Classics).

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

Registration Studeren à la carte

Registration Contractonderwijs

Contact

Please contact Student administration van Eyckhof for questions.

Remarks

Please make sure that you have read Jane Austen’s Persuasion for the first class.

WEEK ONE: JANE AUSTEN, PERSUASION WEEK TWO: INTRODUCTORY LECTURE WEEK THREE:EMILY BRONTE, WUTHERING HEIGHTS WEEK FOUR: MARY SHELLEY, FRANKENSTEIN WEEK FIVE: GEORGE ELIOT, SILAS MARNER WEEK SIX AND EIGHT: CHARLES DICKENS, GREAT EXPECTATIONS WEEK NINE: ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, THE STRANGE CASE OF DOCTOR JEKYLL AND MISTER HYDE WEEK TEN: ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES WEEK ELEVEN: H. G. WELLS, THE TIME MACHINE WEEK TWELVE AND THIRTEEN: THOMAS HARDY, JUDE THE OBSCURE