Histoire littéraire et culturelle des pays anglophones I

START DATE: 7 November 2023

First semester: a survey of some key periods and developments in the history of the British novel from Defoe up to and including the Gothic + close reading of one illustrative 18th-century novel.(M. G. Lewis, The Monk)

Second semester: the transition from the Gothic to Victorian prose proper; coverage of the corresponding parts of the historical survey + close reading of 2 novels which continue to appeal to a contemporary readership.

Course objectives: 1) to introduce students to the development of the novel in the British Isles before the twentieth century; 2) to train first-year students (especially non-native speakers) to approach a non-contemporary novel in close reading and to develop their personal skills at literary analysis; 3) to encourage students to develop a more history-based understanding of literature; 4) to help students understand the novelistic tradition which provided the foundations for later Modernist, Postmodernist and Postcolonial experimentation, as well as for the development of Anglophone literatures outside the British Isles proper.

Cours ayant celui-ci comme co-requis

Lectures complemented by individual reading at home. This is not a virtual course: the class meets once a week and course attendance is essential.

Contribution to the teaching profile

• Developing techniques of literary analysis and interpretation.

• Developing a grasp of literary genres and their transformation over time.

• Developing a grasp of the historical dimension of literary studies.

• Developing a mastery of literary and scholarly English (both in speech and writing).

References, bibliography, and recommended reading

Set Reading List for 2023-2024 (compulsory reading):
 

Set Reading List for 2023-2024

1^st Semester

LEWIS, Matthew Gregory, The Monk, ed. Nick Groom (Oxford World Classics, ISBN: 978-0198704454)   

2nd Semester

SHELLEY, Mary, Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus. In: Three Gothic Novels, ed. by Peter Fairclough (Penguin Classics, ISBN: 978-0-14-043036-3)

DICKENS, Charles, Hard Times (Oxford World’s Classics)

Course notes

• Syllabus
• Podcast
• Université virtuelle

Contacts

e-mail: franca.bellarsi@ulb.be

phone: 02 650 67 47 (direct line) or 02 650 38 24 (Secretariat)

Personal interviews by appointment only.

Campus

Solbosch

Method(s) of evaluation

• written examination
• Oral examination

written examination

Oral examination

1. Written examination in January: theory/historical survey of the development of the English/British novel seen in the first semester (from the origins of the novel up to and including the Gothic) + questions on the first novel covered in class, i.e. M. G. Lewis's The Monk).

2. Oral examination in May/June, with questions about 19th-century materials and the transition from the Gothic to the Victorian prose proper.The oral examination will cover the corresponding parts of the historical survey + the other classics assigned for close reading at home and analysed in part in class during the second semester.

Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)

• Written examination in January (1st semester materials): 40% of the total grade. This written test will be designed as as an online and open-book examination to be completed over the Virtual University.

• Oral examination in May/June (2nd semester materials): 60% of the total grade (n.b.: a quarter of the May/June mark will depend on the quality of spoken English).

If at the end of the June session, a student does not obtain the minimum overall pass grade of 10/20, he or she will have to retake in August any sub-component of the evaluation for which he/she obtained a partial grade BELOW 10.

PLEASE NOTE THAT PARTIAL GRADES ATTRIBUTED TO SUB-COMPONENTS OF THE OVERALL EVALUATION PROCESS WILL NOT BE TRANSFERRED FROM ONE ACADEMIC YEAR TO THE NEXT (THEY CAN ONLY BE TRANSFERRED FROM ONE EXAMINATION SESSION TO THE NEXT WITHIN ONE AND THE SAME ACADEMIC YEAR).

Language(s) of evaluation

• english