Module ENGL2571: AUSTEN, EDGEWORTH AND THE COUNTER-ROMANTIC NOVEL (SPECIAL TOPIC)

Department: English Studies

ENGL2571: AUSTEN, EDGEWORTH AND THE COUNTER-ROMANTIC NOVEL (SPECIAL TOPIC)

Prerequisites

• Any Single or Joint Honours finalist student wishing to take this Special Topic module must have satisfactorily completed the required number of core modules. Combined Honours and Outside Honours students must have satisfactorily completed either two Level 1 core introductory modules, or at least one Level 1 core module and one further lecture based module in English at Level 2

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To provide detailed study of the work of two of the most significant writers in the history of the novel: Maria Edgeworth and Jane Austen. Marie Edgeworth is now less famous than Austen but was, in her own time, an eminent literary figure.
• To complement existing lecture courses on Romanticism and the Restoration/Eigteenth Century and allow students the opportunity to explore the work of both authors in detail.
• Following on from the Level 1 module Introduction to the Novel, to demonstrate the formation of the genre of the novel in this period in its particular cultural and intellectual contexts, especially those of Romanticism and the French Revolution.
• To explore the respective national contexts of both Edgeworth and Austen.
• To trace the consequences of the work of both Edgeworth and Austen for the history of the novel (and literature in general) in Britain and Ireland.
• To explore the importance of form in the history of the novel.

Content

• Contemporary understanding of what constitutes the novel was largely shaped in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Both Maria Edgeworth and Jane Austen were key figures in that process. In doing so, each attempted to establish the form as a response to, and reaction against, what they perceived to be the excesses of both romanticism and the popular novel. This course will examine the novels of both Edgeworth and Austen as 'counter-romantic', exploring the manner in which the novel came to be identified with women, practicality and materialism. Edgeworth's fiction will be read alongside key works by Austen in addition to selections from Edmund Burke and Walter Scott. Knowledge of the historical and cultural context of the novel as a genre will be complemented by a conceptual understanding of narrative theory and the history of ideas.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will gain a detailed knowledge of the work of Austen and Edgeworth. They will be able to relate that work to its major intellectual and historical contexts, including: the French Revolution, the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland, and British Romanticism.

• Students will develop analytical skills in the history of the novel in its historical and intellectual contexts, and an informed awareness of some of the central debates in English studies at present, such as historicism, gender, nationalism, and aesthetics, which have their roots in the post-revolutionary period.

• Students on this course will be expected to exhibit independent thought and judgement in their essays Critical reasoning, an ability to offer cogent arguments, as well as word-processing, time-management, electronic data access and information organizational skills, are all required for this module.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The module is taught through seminars, which encourage collective responsiveness through interactive discussion as well as the development of independent, individual thought.
• The consultation session with the seminar leader before the first essay allows for further, guided exploration of individual ideas and arguments.
• Assessed essays give students the opportunity for focused independent study, permitting them to explore their own ideas and insights as well as demonstrating a requisite knowledge of the subject.
• The written feedback that is provided after the first assessed essay allows students to reflect on examiners' comments, giving students the opportunity to improve their work for the second essay.
• Typically, directed learning may include assigning student(s) an issue, theme or topic that can be independently or collectively explored within a framework and/or with additional materials provided by the tutor. This may function as preparatory work for presenting their ideas or findings (sometimes electronically) to their peers and tutor in the context of a seminar.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Before the first essay, students will have an individual consultation session in which they are entitled to show their seminar leader a list of points relevant to the essay and receive oral comment on these points. Students may also, if they wish, discuss their ideas for the second essay at this meeting.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University