This course will be dedicated to both literary and cultural developments that shaped the Victorian Age. Our main focus will be on the following topics: industrialisation and its effects; urbanisation and metropolitan life; colonialism and imperialism; Aestheticism, the dandy and the New Woman. We will study different types of texts (novels, essays, short fiction) to approach these issues.
Please get hold of and read the following texts:
Charlotte Brontë, Shirley
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Christopher Dolley, ed., The Penguin Book of English Short Stories
Shorter texts will be announced later, and further material will be made available at the beginning of the semester.
In Part II of the module, which can only be attended in tandem with Part I, we will enlarge on some of the aspects and material from Part I; in addition, participants will have the opportunity to develop research questions and practise the skills necessary for the writing of their term papers. |
