The aim of the course is to teach the Victorian novel in terms of its literary, historical, cultural and social concepts through the study of Victorian heroines in the representative works of the period.
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot
Mary Barton, Elizabeth Gaskell
Other Sources
Terry Eagleton - The English Novel - An Introduction
Foucault - History of Sexuality
Terry Eagleton - Myths of Power: A Marxist Study of the Brontes
Walter Allen - The English Novel
Adrienne Rich’s On Lies, Secrets & Silence - “Jane Eyre: The Temptations of a Motherless Woman”
Foucault- Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison
Freud- Totem & Taboo
Terry Eagleton’s Heathcliff & the Great Hunger
Course Schedules
Week
Contents
Learning Methods
1. Week
Introduction
Lecture, discussion
2. Week
ntroduction to Victorian Novel
Overview: Novel & the Middle class, who comprises the middle class, and who writes for whom
Social criticism, class consciousness, Industrialism
Realism? Does True-to-life-ness suffice?
The English Novel; individual vs the society
Lecture, discussion
3. Week
Victorian mores: optimism, expectancy & change, consolidation of Protestantism, Max Weber’s Protestant work ethic, mass poverty vs conspicious consumption, morality & obsession with respectability
From Terry Eagleton - The English Novel - “An Introduction”
Lecture, discussion
4. Week
Precursors of the writing women: Aphra Behn, the Blue Stockings, Hester Thrale, Lady Mary Worthley Montagu, Mary Wollstonecraft
Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre
A new femininity in practice, the Victorian Angel in the House?
The mad & the bad women
Lecture, discussion
5. Week
Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre
From Foucault’s History of Sexuality
Lecture, discussion
6. Week
Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre
From Terry Eagleton’s Myths of Power: A Marxist Study of the Brontes
Lecture, discussion
7. Week
Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre
From Adrienne Rich’s On Lies, Secrets & Silence - “Jane Eyre: The Temptations of a Motherless Woman”
Lecture, discussion
8. Week
Midterm
Lecture, discussion
9. Week
Elizabeth Gaskell - Mary Barton
Lecture, discussion
10. Week
Elizabeth Gaskell - Mary Barton
From Foucault’s Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison
Lecture, discussion
11. Week
Elizabeth Gaskell - Mary Barton
Response Paper on contemporary adaptations of Wuthering Heights in the light of Terry Eagleton’s Heathcliff & the Great Hunger. (A comparison of the adaptations of 2011 by Andrea Arnold and 2018 by Elisaveta Abrahall)
Wuthering Heights
Lecture, discussion
12. Week
The Mill On The Floss - George Eliot
Class & ambition
Lecture, discussion
13. Week
The Mill On The Floss - George Eliot
From Freud’s Totem & Taboo
Lecture, discussion
14. Week
The Mill On The Floss - George Eliot
New women and the old
Lecture, discussion
15. Week
Revision
16. Week
Revision
17. Week
The final exam
Assessments
Evaluation tools
Quantity
Weight(%)
Midterm(s)
1
30
Attendance
1
20
Final Exam
1
40
Program Outcomes
PO-1
Show knowledge of a substantial range of authors, movements and texts from different periods of literary history.
PO-2
Identify the intellectual, cultural and socio-historical contexts in which literature
is written and read.
PO-3
Employ the necessary skills in the reading, analysis and in appreciation of literature.
PO-4
Recognize, interpret, and comment on rhetorical and figurative language.
PO-5
Identify, distinguish between and assess the distinctive characteristics of texts written in the principle literary genres.
PO-6
Recall and define key terms and concepts relating to language, literature and/or culture.
PO-7
Recognize the role of different social and cultural contexts in affecting meaning.
PO-8
Demonstrate responsiveness to the central role of language in the creation of meaning.
PO-9
Recognize different structures and discourse functions of the English language.
PO-10
Display competence both in written and/or oral expression and in the
communication of ideas in a variety of contexts.
PO-11
Demonstrate critical skills in the close reading, description, interpretation,
and analysis of literary and non-literary texts.
PO-12
Use logical thought, critical reasoning, and rhetorical skills to effectively
construct arguments.
PO-13
Apply guided research skills including the ability to gather, sift, organize and
present information and material.
PO-14
Show competence in planning, preparation and revision of essays,
presentations, and other written and project work.
PO-15
Reflect on ethical and philosophical issues raised in literary, critical, and
cultural texts.
Learning Outcomes
LO-1
Have a broad understanding of the Victorian period in its historical context.
LO-2
Grasp the thematical concerns and the narrative techniques of the Victorian novel.
LO-3
Read and analyze a variety of texts that feature Victorian heroines.
LO-4
Understand how dominant ideologies of the Victorian period construct femininity.
LO-5
Relate the constructed concepts of femininity of the Victorian period to the contemporary discussions about femininity.
