EL2001:04
*Women in the Nineteenth Century Novel
Cairns
Prerequisites: At least 6 units of EL subjects which must include 3 units of Literature subjects
Inadmissable Subject Combination: EL3001
12 lectures, 24 tutorials. First semester.
Staff: Dr R Lansdown.
The nineteenth-century novel is perhaps the most widely known and admired English literary manifestation. In it, one question in particular was ‘debated’ with unusual consistency of purpose: the moral needs and status of women in modern society. In the fiction written between 1800 and 1915 we recognise the advent of the independent woman, seen not as historians or social theorists might see her, in abstract terms, but in a series of living individuals.
Learning Objectives:
- to broaden and intensify the literary-critical skills and understanding attained by students at earlier levels, particularly where essay-writing and extra-literary issues are concerned;
- to attain a full and close understanding of particular set texts;
- to develop an accurate critical and literary-historical understanding of the English novel between about 1800 and 1915;
- to reach a fuller understanding of what ‘realist’ fiction involves and what the chosen novelists understood by it.
Assessment by participation in discussion (20%); one assignment of 1,500 words (30%); one essay of 3,000 words (50%).
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