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.
Regular attendance, preparation for the class and participation in it are all required elements of this course.
Resit
Insufficient components can be retaken.
Attendance
Attendance is compulsory. Missing more than two tutorials means that students will be excluded from the tutorials. Unauthorized absence also applies to being unprepared, not participating and/or not bringing the relevant course materials to class.
Inspection and feedback
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.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for:
communication
information
submission of essays to turnitin to check for plagiarism
Reading list
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice (1813) (Penguin Classics).
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein (1831 version) (Penguin Classics).
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights (1847) (Oxford World Classics).
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations (1860-1861) (Penguin Classics).
Eliot, George. Middlemarch (1871-1872) (Oxford World Classics).
Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbevilles (1891) (Penguin Classics)
Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897) (Oxford World Classics)
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available on the website
NB: First year students will be enrolled by the coordinator of studies.
Students other than from the BA English language and culture cannot take this course.
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs Registration
Registration Studeren à la carte
Registration Contractonderwijs
Contact
Please contact Student administration van Eyckhof for questions.
The coordinator of studies is Else van Dijk
Remarks
Please make sure that you have read all of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice before the first class.
WEEK ONE: JANE AUSTEN, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE; WEEK TWO:MARY SHELLEY, FRANKENSTEIN; WEEKS THREE AND FOUR:EMILY BRONTE, WUTHERING HEIGHTS; WEEKS FIVE AND SIX: CHARLES DICKENS, GREAT EXPECTATIONS; WEEK SEVEN: STUDY WEEK; WEEKS EIGHT, NINE AND TEN: GEORGE ELIOT, MIDDLEMARCH; WEEKS ELEVEN AND TWELVE: THOMAS HARDY, TESS OF THE D’URBEVILLES; WEEKS THIRTEEN AND FOURTEEN: BRAM STOKER, DRACULA.