In this module we will study the Realist novel of the Victorian period from early Dickens to mature Hardy and beyond. The investigation is directed towards imbedding literary text in the wider cultural contexts of the period and relating the developing new literary style of Realism, as a form of continued response, to the processes of accelerating social and political modernisation of the time. In a number of exemplary texts we will trace the development of the ‘the modern novel’ from the points of inception down to late manifestations of the genre. The module is set to investigate and evaluate main positions and narrative strategies adopted by the novel as interventions in the debate on modernity as it was led during that time, and as it is ongoing to the present day.

Critical Review length 1000 words weighted at 50%. [Learning Outcome 1, 2, 3]

Group Presentation weighted at 50%. [Learning Outcome 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Key Information Set Data:
50% Coursework
50% Practical Exam

Teaching will be through lectures 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).

Networked PC
DVD/Video Projection
Library
Internet
The Blackboard virtual learning environment will be available (where relevant) to support this module. Details will be supplied in the module handbook.

Texts may include Dickens Oliver Twist, Great Expectations; Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre; George Eliot Middlemarch.

Benevolo Leonardo, The European City, Oxford: Blackwell, 1995. David Deirdre (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Victorian Novel, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012 Giddens Anthony, Modernity and Self Identity - Self and Society in the Late Modern Age, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991.
James Louis, The Victorian Novel, Oxford: Blackwell 2006
Moretti Franco, Atlas of the European Novel 1800-1900, London: Verso, 1998
Williams Raymond The Country and the City, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.

1. DEMONSTRATE KNOWLEDGE OF THEMES AND FORMS OF THE VICTORIAN NOVEL AND SHOW AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS NEW GENRE IN THE CONTEXT OF CULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS OF THE PERIOD
Knowledge & Understanding

2. IDENTIFY IN WHICH WAY THE VICTORIAN NOVEL, IN THE ISSUES IT PROJECTS AND THE FORMS IT IS CONSTRUCTED, INTERVENES IN THE CONTEMPORARY DEBATES ON MODERNITY IN CRISIS
Learning

3. COMPREHEND REALISM OF THE VICTORIAN NOVEL AS A NEW STYLE OF ARTISTIC REPRESENTATION IN ITS INGREDIENT ELEMENTS, EPISTEMOLOGICAL MAKE-UP AND AESTHETIC POTENTIAL
Analysis

4. CREATE A CRITICALLY SUPPORTED REASONED ARGUMENT BASED ON CLOSE READING OF RELEVANT LITERARY TEXT AND SHOW AN ABILITY TO PARTICIPATE FLEXIBLY AND CREATIVELY IN A GROUP PRESENTATION PROJECT
Application

5. REFLECT CRITICALLY ON A SECONDARY SOURCE IN ITS RELEVANCE TO YOUR OWN WRITTEN WORK Reflection