Module ENGL2561: THE DOMESTIC OBJECT: HOME AND IDENTITY IN EDWARDIAN AND MODERN FICTION (SPECIAL TOPIC)

Department: English Studies

ENGL2561: THE DOMESTIC OBJECT: HOME AND IDENTITY IN EDWARDIAN AND MODERN FICTION (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

• The broad aims of the course are: To introduce students to a range of Edwardian and later fiction and to a selection of views on that fiction; to show some of the complex relationships between notions of domesticity and fiction of the period; to demonstrate the complex relationships between identity and domestic objects and practices in the literature of the course; to promote an understanding of the relationships between Edwardian and modernist fiction.
• This course will complement existing modern period modules by providing the opportunity for detailed study of a relatively neglected period - the Edwardian - and its place in literary history. In its emphasis on the meaning of the domestic, and on the relationship between domestic objects and identity, the course takes up a key aspect of fiction of the period as identified by Virginia Woolf. In doing so, it allows for analysis not only of domesticity in Edwardian fiction but also on the perception and recreation of the Edwardian by some later writers. The course thus builds on the earlier Level one module Introduction to the Novel by exploring the relationship between forms of domesticity and the genre. It complements other special topics such as Fin de Siecle Fiction as well as the level 2/3 module on the Modern Period.

Content

• The course will begin with an overview session that sets up the generic, historical and conceptual concerns of the course: the trajectory of 'the domestic novel' from women writers of the previous century to male writers of the Edwardian period; shifts in practices of domesticity from the late Victorian period to post WW1; the relationship between object and identity in readings of Freud and Benjamin. These concerns will be drawn out in a series of seminars over the following weeks, each of which concentrates on one novel (and occasional contemporary supplementary material such as Adolf Loos, 'Ornament and Crime' and Ebenezer Howard on garden cities). Each seminar will pay particular attention to the novel's construction of domesticity and (personal or cultural) identity through objects, rooms and spaces. The first seminar will tackle Woolf's assertion that the Edwardians construct identity through material domestic space. It will consider this notion alongside Conan Doyle on identification. The course then looks at how some key Edwardian novelists express forms of class consciousness in two respects: subjectivity and the bourgeois consumer; and the commodification of the domestic through the 'house in the country'. The later part of the course moves into post-Edwardian fiction to test the corollary aspect of Woolf's assertion, namely that these writers shatter the identification that domesticity provided. The course will conclude with later novels that address the issue of 'taste' from different cultural perspectives. All of these post-Edwardian novels look back to earlier versions of domesticity, and in doing so, they, along with Edwardian fiction, help to chart the ways in which the novel continued to be a mode of addressing an essentially middle-class home life in which such things as subjectivity, sexuality, cultural 'belonging' and class consciousness could be constructed. The course will draw on a wide range of texts and these may include works by the following writers: Bennett, Bowen, Conan Doyle, Forster, Galsworthy, Joyce, Waugh, Wells and Woolf.

Learning Outcomes

• At the end of the course students will have knowledge of: a range of Edwardian and modern fiction; a range of critical interpretations of that fiction; the domestic novel with particular reference to the period.

• Student will be able to: analyse notions of domesticity in the literature of the course; show a grasp of the relationships between identity and the domestic in the literature of the course.

• 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 course is taught through seminars which encourage both collective responsiveness (the sharing and judging of ideas) and independent, individual thought. Each student will be encouraged to offer an independent or co-produced seminar presentation. That, along with the consultation session prior to 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 particular approaches while demonstrating requisite knowledge of the subject.
• Written feedback on this first essay allows for student reflection on examiners' comments and the opportunity to consolidate and 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 assessed essay, students have an individual 15 minute consultation session in which they are entitled to show their seminar leader a sheet of points relevant to the essay and to 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