English Dual Honours (Level 3)
English Major (Level 3)
English Minor (Level 3)
Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins are two of the most important Victorian novelists. They were also close friends, who influenced each other greatly and collaborated on a number of stories. This module will study in depth two major novels by Dickens, and three by Collins. The Dickens novels are Bleak House and the unfinished Mystery of Edwin Drood. Bleak House interweaves one of the earliest detective plots in fiction into a story of social and personal mystery, guilt and retribution. Edwin Drood is a strangely modern work, concerned with opium addition, hypnotism and the power of the unconscious. Wilkie Collins is seen as the $ùfather&© of detective fiction, and we will look at his two greatest achievements, The Woman in White and The Moonstone, texts full of mystery, suspense and strange states of mind. We will also look at an example of Collins&©s under-rated later fiction, The Law and the Lady, which puts at the centre of its plot perhaps the first ever female detective character.
These novels change in profound ways the history of the novel, and, through serialization and awareness of new modes of journalism, create new generic possibilities, forms of characterization and plot development. They contribute to the rise of the sensation novel, and experiment with very different depictions of femininity, sexuality and crime that seem to put them at odds with what are taken to be $ùVictorian&© norms. They are deeply concerned with imperial violence abroad and social transgression at home, and they respond to this disturbing material in formally innovative ways.
Develop a critical understanding of the defining characteristics of 'sensation/detective' fiction, a key novelistic genre of the 1850s-60s
Understand, evaluate and apply a range of critical ideas and theories relevant to textual criticism of the mid-Victorian novel, and the varieties of non-fiction, journalistic writing that constitute an important interdisciplinary context for the novels.
Demonstrate skills of critical analysis (on paper and in person) when assessing the form and meaning of sensation and detective fictions, and cognate non-fictional writings.
Apply skills in textual analysis and intellectual argument and engagement in the context of mid-Victorian fiction and journalism will be achieved by assessments: 1&2
Plan, research and produce work within the limitations of time and resources available to them and responding to feedback on this work positively. will be achieved by assessments: 1&2
Critically assess and evaluate the relevance of aspects of critical theory to the understanding of mid-Victorian fiction will be achieved by assessments: 1 and especially 2
Clearly articulate and substantiate through argument and detailed analysis (in person and on paper) their critical judgements about mid-Victorian fiction and its journalistic contexts will be achieved by assessments: 2 and especially the formative presentation of portfolio 1
56 hours of reading and tutorial preparation
50 hours of essay research and writing
20 hours of short essay preparation
The case study will consist of a presentation and an essay. Students will be asked to deliver individual oral presentations on a range of non-fictional, jouralistic texts that provide vibrant contexts for the fiction. The presentations will be 10 minutes in length. Students will then receive oral feedback on their presentations, so that there will be an important element of FORMATIVE assessment. Following the feedback, students will then write a 1000 word commentary on the journalism, linking it as a context to a passage or chapter from a relevant novel by either Dickens or Collins.
Students will be asked to research and write a detailed critical essay of between 2500-3000 words, analysing and comparing two texts from the module (and the texts will be different from those comprising the focus of assessment 1). Students will be expected to pay close atention to form, context and critical and theoretical ideas that elucidate the texts under discussion. The essay question will be chosen from a list of between 6-8 options.
This document is the definitive current source of information about this module and supersedes any other information.