ENG6522 - Literary Period: Victorian Literature

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Demonstrate detailed knowledge and understanding of distinctive aspects and features of Victorian literature;
Demonstrate the ability to analyse and discuss texts relating to the Victorian period in terms of their relation to particular social, cultural and critical debates surrounding Victorian literature;
Demonstrate the ability to use appropriate research strategies and resources in order to define, develop, and carry out an individual research project relating to Victorian literature;
Analyse and discuss texts from the Victorian period in terms of the relation of content to form and literary genre.

Content:

This module enables students to combine a broad understanding of the Victorian period with a specific focus on one strand of its literary output. It draws on the department's broad expertise in Victorian literature, with one, two or three strands running within the module each year. Indicative genres offered for student choice include 'Gothic and horror', 'comedy', 'industrial fiction', and/or 'children's literature'.
Students will undertake a study testing a hypothesis they construct themselves, initially interpreting literary sources that they have been provided with, and then progressing to individual research reports using additional literary sources, (which might include, for example, prose, poetry, periodical articles, cartoons, newspaper reports, paintings, etc), that they must locate themselves in e.g. anthologies, digital resources and/or databases. Students will be guided through the processes of developing their initial hypothesis and selecting their own texts for analysis.
The two-part assignment enables the student to practice and build their research skills. For assignment 1, they sketch their hypothesis, collate relevant sources, prepare preliminary analyses, and present those to their peers and tutor two-thirds of the way through the module. For assignment 2, they then write up those analyses, in the light of formative feedback, into a research report.

Learning and Teaching Information:

In the first part of the module, learning will be supported through introductory plenary sessions and workshops. These will include a variety of teaching techniques, such as framing mini-lectures, student report back/presentations, intensive work on exemplar set texts, and strategies for interpretation, roleplay and group exercises. During the second part of the module, the students' guided independent study moves to focus on their research reports, and taught sessions will focus on the skills of searching for, identifying, evaluating and analysing appropriate sources. Once the individual project is defined and approved guidance on developing that project and on-going support is provided through workshops and tutorials.

Workshop
Contact hours: 22
Intended Group size: 25

Drop-in sessions
Contact hours: 4
Intended group size: 5

Guided independent study
Hours: 174

Further details relating to assessment
Assessment 1: Individual presentation.
The individual presentations will be presented in class time during the semester. This will act as a development of the students' informal research proposal, and a feasibility study. This will therefore count as part of the module's summative assessment, but only 30%, due to its nature as a preliminary draft of the ideas of the research project, and because its other purpose is to provide formative feedback (from both tutor and peer feedback from other students) for the more heavily weighted written report (worth 70% of the module mark).
Assessment 2: Report.
The precise nature and form of the report can be negotiated with the lecturer. It should include coverage of the following aspects: - how the chosen genre was deployed and perceived during the Victorian period (e.g. its development over time, its emergence or revival, its status in literary culture) and the reasons for this.
- the student's hypothesis about one aspect of the genre. This hypothesis will be formed over the course of the workshop sessions, and is tested and discussed in Assessment 1, the presentation.
- an analysis of the students' chosen text in relation to their posited hypothesis. This must draw on a primary text of their choice and on secondary literature. Reference to other texts in the given genre will be expected.
- an evaluation of the initial hypothesis in the light of the foregoing analysis, synthesising the above elements into a conclusion.

Assessment:

001 Report - 3,000 words - end of Semester 1 70%
002 Individual presentation - 10 minutes - during Semester 1 30%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Nathan Uglow
Level - 6
Credit Value - 20
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 6S1

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