Unit name | Place in Victorian and Recent Fiction |
---|---|
Unit code | ENGL30104 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Professor. Pite |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of English |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
By looking at place in a number of Victorian novelists (George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope), this module will consider both particular locations – their meaning and cultural resonances – and the role of setting in the nineteenth-century novel. These examples will then be compared to the role of place in some contemporary fiction (Birmingham in David Lodge and Jonathan Coe, versions of the North in 1960s realism and Kate Atkinson, and depictions of the south). The comparison will lead to discussion of how place is mediated by writing and how it has altered over time. Discussion will be informed by comparisons with film and TV versions of the novels.
Discuss the cultural geography of both Victorian novelists and contemporary writers:
On completion of the module students will be expected to be able to:
1 x 2 hour seminar per week in one teaching block, plus 1-to-1 discussion in Consultation Hours where desired.
1 Short Essay (2000 words max) and 1 Long Essay (4000 words max), both summative.
Key texts may include:
Charles Dickens, ‘George Silverman’s Explanation’
George Eliot, Silas Marner
Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers
Kate Atkinson, Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Jonathan Coe, The Rotters’ Club
Shena Mackay, The Orchard on Fire