Module Information

Module Identifier
EN23420
Module Title
Demons, Degenerates and New Women (Fin de Siecle Fictions)
Academic Year
2021/2022
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Other Staff

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Due to Covid-19 students should refer to the module Blackboard pages for assessment details

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Essay Assignment  1 x 2500 word essay  60%
Semester Exam Group Oral Presentation  30 minute group oral presentation  40%
Supplementary Assessment Resubmit Essay Assignment  Resubmit missing or failed essay of 2500 words  60%
Supplementary Assessment Resubmit oral presentation  Submit scripts and visual aids (e.g. powerpoint) equivalent to a 15 minute presentation  40%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

1. Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of a range of texts from the fin de siecle period;

2. Articulate this knowledge in the form of reasoned critical analysis of particular texts;

3. Locate the texts studied in some of the contexts of their production;

4. Engage with relevant aspects of recent scholarly and/or critical debates about the material studied;

5. Work effectively as part of a team to communicate knowledge and understanding of your subject.

Brief description

This module explores some of the anxieties and preoccupations of late nineteenth-century culture through an examination of some of the best-selling romances and fantasies (She, Dracula, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) and 'high art' fiction (The Picture of Dorian Gray, Jude the Obscure, the New Woman Writing) which fascinated and scandalised late Victorian readers.

Content

SEMINAR PROGRAMME

1. Introduction to the fin de siècle

2. Masculine Others (i)
R.L. Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

3. The Dark places of the earth
Rider Haggard's She

4. Masculine Others (ii)
Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray

5. Monstrous men and New Women
Bram Stoker's Dracula

6. New Woman Writing: Politics
‘New Woman section’ from Ledger and Luckhurst (digitized on Aspire)

7. New Woman Writing: Olive Schreiner’s The Story of an African Farm

8. New Woman Writing: Short Fiction

9. Oral presentations workshop

10. Gender Trouble
Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure

Detailed bibliographies will be given out in class. You will find it useful to look at one or more of the books listed below before the course starts. Unless otherwise stated all the novels are published by both Penguin and Oxford World's Classics.

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Application of Number N/A
Communication Through group discussions and presentations.
Improving own Learning and Performance Through independent reading and research.
Information Technology Use of digital resources for research and PowerPoint for presentations.
Personal Development and Career planning Develop critical self-reflection and through the development of transferable communication and research skills.
Problem solving Developing evaluative analysis and critical skills and by formulating and conducting a detailed argument.
Research skills By relating literary texts to historical contexts and by synthesizing information in an evaluative argument.
Subject Specific Skills Detailed critical/theoretical analysis of literary texts and evaluation of broad intellectual concepts.
Team work Play an active part in group activities in the seminars and through group presentations.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 5