| Unit name | Victorian Fiction: Art and Ideas in the Marketplace |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGL30117 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Gao |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
‘Many among us,’ a reviewer in 1866 wrote to his fellow Victorians, ‘think of Tennyson and Dickens as the most popular of our living authors. It is a fond delusion.’ This unit will open up your understanding of Victorian fiction and writing, beyond the canonical novelists and poets, to what Victorians readers ‘really’ read and how they felt about it. We will explore the birth and death of trends, ideas, and genres within this period, from the rise of the Gothic short story to pseudo-documentaries of London’s streets to the ‘lowbrow’, the Decadent, and the controversial. This unit will consider issues of readership, authorial reputation, and the role of reception and reviewers. Finally, you will be supported in developing your own research, investigating topics catered to your interests, based on archival copies of Victorian magazines.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
Exploration units offer thought-provoking and engaging investigations into key topics, including period-focused, thematic, and trans-historical options. You will hone your abilities as a researcher able to navigate skilfully a range of databases and archives, as well as engaging effectively with more advanced critical and theoretical perspectives. Exploration units ask you to both rethink the familiar and meet the unexpected, and encourage you to develop depth as well as breadth of critical understanding.
Content Overview
This unit explores the ways in which expanded readerships, evolving genres, and new ideas shaped – and were shaped by – the art of fiction in the Victorian period (1830s to 1890s). Lectures and seminars will introduce new ways of placing texts into contexts, encouraging us to consider: the rise of literacy and the creation of new or niche genres; the significance of implied authors and implied readers; the role of literary reviews and criticism; the impact of new ideas of evolution, gender, and Empire; the cross-over between fiction, non-fiction, and documentary forms; the contexts and the career of authorship; critical debates over ‘realism’ and the social, political, and ethical purposes of fiction; aestheticism and resistance to the market as a measure of value. We will complement these guided topics with an independent research exercise, where we will investigate topics of our own interest through scholarly databases of Victorian newspapers and periodicals. This unit will support traditional modes of intensive reading and critical analysis of literary works, and enhance students’ real-world understanding of art as a social practice
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
On completion of the unit students will have engaged with formally, thematically, and socially diverse examples of Victorian writing beyond canonical novels and poetry, which will expand and consolidate their understanding of the period from ENGL20063: Literature (1740-1900). They will have gained archival, creative, and project management skills in conceiving, refining, and executing an independent research essay. This experience of investigating primary sources and forming independent research topics will be good preparation for final-year dissertation projects.
Intended Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:
The unit is taught by seminars and a programme of cohort sessions. Teaching includes group discussion, research and writing activities, and peer dialogue. Students are expected to attend all timetabled teaching, engage with the reading, and participate fully with the weekly tasks and topics. Learning will be further supported through the opportunity for individual consultation.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
1,500 word coursework (50%) [ILOs 1-3].
2 hr exam (50%) [ILOs 1-4].
When assessment does not go to plan
When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the format or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are confirmed by the School/Centre shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the year.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. ENGL30117).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
