Bocock, Robert, and Kenneth Thompson, Social and Cultural Forms of Modernity; Understanding Modern Societies: Book 3 (London: Polity Press/O.U.P, 1992).
Brantlinger, Patrick, Rule of Darkness - British literature and imperialism, 1830-1914 (Cornell U.P., 1988).
Dyos, H.J., and Michael Wolff, The Victorian city - images and realities (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973).
John, Juliet, and Alice Jenkins, Rethinking Victorian culture (Basingstoke:Macmillan, 2000).
Shires, Linda M., Rewriting the Victorians - theory, history, and the politics of gender (London: Routledge, 1992).
Sinfield, Alan, The Wilde Century (London: Cassell, 1994).

Library, access to networked pc (for assignments and module website).

Teaching will be through lectures, workshops and seminars. You will work independently (on research, preparation of lectures, seminars and seminar presentations) and in pairs or small groups (on seminar assignments and presentations).

Written ASSIGNMENT [Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4]
GROUP PRESENTATION [Learning Outcome 4]
A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL EXERCISE [Learning Outcome 3]

This module will lead off the Level 2 English Core programme by introducing students to English literature's involvement in the developing social, economic, cultural and conceptual processes of modernisation in the nineteenth century. The module is thematically organised around two key areas: Detecting the Modern City and Identity and the Modern Subject. We will study exemplary works from nineteenth century prose writing (including texts such as Bleak House by Dickens, Poe's The Man of the Crowd: Bronte's, Wuthering Heights, Wilde's, Picture of Dorian Gray) and poetry (typically including poems by Arnold, Barrett Browning, Clare, D.G. Rossetti and Tennyson).