Παρουσίαση/Προβολή

Course Objectives/Goals

Course Description

This course is an introduction to nineteenth-century fiction written in English and places texts in their literary and cultural settings. During the century, expansion in literacy and lowered costs in the production of books, newspapers and periodicals contributed to the development and significance of fiction as the major means of expression and experimentation. Reading habits, class and personal taste influenced then, as they do now, the formation of literary genres. By focussing on a variety of prose ranging from gothic novels to Christmas books and sensation serials to whimsical fantasy we will look at the ways different genres were deployed to represent and explore social, political and psychological concerns that became fraught in the nineteenth century. Topics for class discussion and possible assignments will include the formation of identity and interiority, the fallen woman, class and ambition, childhood sexuality and haunting. We will pay close attention to the ways that nineteenth-century fiction interacts with its socio-historical context and will use a critical and theoretical lens through which to analyse and interpret moments in the texts that seem to resist and also invite interpretation.

Aims and Objectives

By the end of this course, you will:

• be familiar with major texts in the nineteenth century
• have a greater understanding of particular concerns and debates surrounding nineteenth-century literature, culture and society
• be confident in identifying popular nineteenth-century literary genres and cogently discuss historical and critical debates surrounding these
• demonstrate an understanding of how seemingly opposed modes of representation such as Realism and the Gothic interact in nineteenth-century fiction
• deploy a critical vocabulary and theoretical approaches in the analysis of nineteenth-century fiction
• show awareness of the interaction between imagination, creativity and socio-political setting in nineteenth-century fiction

Key Skills

• Students will develop their ability to process and evaluate contextual information as well as complex theoretical arguments.
• The structure of the course actively encourages students to pursue independent lines of inquiry and research.
• The ability to use electronic resources and other media efficiently will be fully tested and developed by a course of this nature, as will standard academic skills such as word-processing, time-management, working independently and in groups and bibliographical organisation.

Instructional Methods

This is a three-hour seminar which consists of an introductory short lecture on each week’s key themes, contexts and assigned reading. Active student participation and group discussion will form the core of the seminar. In each class we will work in groups and independently to close read passages, formulate arguments, engage in using critical and theoretical terms. Often good participation is expected of students in a class, but sometimes class members may be uncertain about what constitutes good participation, especially in a seminar. Some hints for strong class participation would include:

1. Coming to class having completed all reading assignments on time and also having had time to reflect on the reading before class.
2. Coming to each class with a question and/or a comment about a reading.
3. If very shy, the golden rule is to come to class with at least one comment/question to make per class.
4. If very talkative, the golden rule is come to class with no more than one comment/question to make per class.
5. If you are shy, talkative, or in between, I may talk to you individually outside of class with specific suggestions for your seminar participation.Such conversations occur every semester. By reflecting on our discussion practices, we can collaboratively deepen our understanding of critical questions and course materials.
6. If shy, talkative, or in between, be mindful that listening is as important, if not more so, than speaking is in a discussion-based course.This means our common goal is to build a handful of sustained topics for discussion in each seminar where the comments of one person build off of the comments and ideas of the other course members.  This might take the form of agreeing, of complicating, of alluding directly to the text, of challenging, of introducing a new or a related topic, etc.

Course leader

 I am teaching 'Nineteenth-Century Fiction' and 'William Shakespeare' this semester at the Department of English Language and Literature. I am the author of Spiritualism and Women's Writing: from the fin de siècle to the neo-Victorian (Palgrave, 2009) and editor of Women and the Victorian Occult (Routledge, 2010). I have co-edited The Ashgate Research Companion to Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism and the Occult (Ashgate, 2012) and I have written essays and articles on Wilkie Collins, Florence Marryat, sensation fiction, spiritualism, psychic detectives and the Society for Psychical Research. My main research interests focus on Victorian spiritualism, the occult, late Victorian popular authors, haunting and spectrality, death studies and childhood, Victorian material culture, fin de siècle periodicals and ephemera, gender and performativity. 

'Nineteenth-Century English Fiction' draws on my recent and current research projects and I am excited to be discussing with students topics that build and expand on this work.

Please feel free to email me with queries and questions regarding the course at tkontou[at]enl.uoa.gr and drop in to see me during my office hours. Date and place for office hours will be confirmed next week.

Primary Bibliography

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843)

Elizabeth Gaskell, ‘The Old Nurse’s Story’ (1852)

E. Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret (1862)

Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865)

Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’ (1891)& E. & H. Heron, ‘The Story of Saddler’s Croft’ (1899)

Henry James, The Turn of the Screw (1898)

You are not required to read particular editions  of the primary texts but please make sure you bring a hard or digital copy in class with you as we will be engaging in close reading and thinking deeply about the words on the page/screen each week.

Further Reading

This bibliography will be updated through the semeste and is only indicative of the print material held in the library. Each week, secondary and further reading will be suggested/uploaded on the weekly units. You are strongly encouraged to browse through the library's holdings of material on nineteenth-century literature and culture. Please feel free to ask me for suggestios on further reading regarding your favourite authors/topics on the course.

1. Realism, photography, and nineteenth-century fiction Daniel A. Novak, 2008
2 The Double in nineteenth-century fiction John Herdman. : Herdman, John, 
Book 1990
3 Darwinʹs plots : Evolutionary narrative in Darwin, George Eliot and nineteenth-century fiction. : Beer, Gillian book
Book 2009
4 Popular fiction and brain science in the late nineteenth century Anne Stiles. : Stiles, Anne, book
Book 2012
5 Gothic evolutions : poetry, tales, context, theory edited by Corinna Wagner. book
Book 2014
6 Late Victorian Gothic : mental science, the uncanny, and scenes of writing Hilary Grimes. : Grimes, Hilary book
Book 2011
7 Gothic fiction Angela Wright. : Wright, Angela, book
Book 2007
8 Moulding the female body in Victorian fairy tales and sensation novels Laurence Talairach-Vielmas. : Talairach-Vielmas, Laurence book
Book 2007
9 The Ideas in things : fugitive meaning in the Victorian novel Elaine Freedgood. : Freedgood, Elaine book
Book 2006
10 Victorian crime, madness and sensation edited by Andrew Maunder, Grace Moore. book
Book 2004
11 The Victorian novel Edited by Francis Oʹ Gorman. : OʹGorman, Francis book
Book 2002
12 The political unconscious : narrative as a socially symbolic act Fredric Jameson. : Jameson, Fredric book
Book 2002
13 The English novel in history 1840-1895 Elizabeth Deeds Ermath. : Ermarth, Elizabeth D. book
Book 1997
14 Disease, desire, and the body in voctorian womenʹs popular novels Pamela K. Gilbert. : Gilbert, Pamela K. book
Book 1997
15 Loveʹs madness : medicine, the novel, and female insanity 1800-1865 Helen Small. : Small, Helen book
Book 1996
16 Reading fin de siecle fictions edited and introduced by Lyn Pykett. book
Book 1996
17 The Gothic body : sexuality, materialism, and degeneration at the fin de siecle Kelly Hurley. : Hurley, Kelly book
Book 1996
18 The realist novel edited by Dennis Walder. book
Book 1995
19 Nobodyʹs Angels : Middle-class women and domestic ideology in Victorian culture Elizabeth Langland. : Langland, Elizabeth book
Book 1995
20 The Sensation novel : from the woman in white to the moonstone Lyn Pykett. : Pykett, Lyn book
Book 1994
21 The servantʹs hand : English fiction from below Bruce Robbins. : Robbins, Bruce book
Book 1993
22 Reading for the plot : design and intention in narrative Peter Brooks. : Brooks, Peter, book
Book 1992
23 The Alice companion : a guide to Lewis Carrollʹs Alice books Jo Elwyn and J. Francis Gladstone ; foreword by Roy Porter. : Elwyn Jones, Jo