Inventions, explorations, wars, colonization: what happened in the Victorian period transformed the world socially, culturally, technologically, politically, geographically, in some cases quite literally, and these changes are charted in the fiction of the time. While the Victorian classic realist novel does not offer the lived experience of the contemporary society that its name suggests, its representations of people, places and modes of being give the reader of such texts an insight into Victorian society.

You will study three major realist novels from the mid-nineteenth century by Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Dickens and George Eliot. These works will be examined alongside a range of other texts in the context of their cultural, social, literary and historical moments in order to gain an understanding of Victorian society and its interests and concerns. The module will conclude with a consideration of a late Victorian novel by Thomas Hardy, in order to understand how the themes and tropes of realism transformed by the end of the century. Key topics are education, industrialisation, religion, family, the law, science, medicine and visual culture as well as the broader social issues of gender, money and class. You will be expected to read the set texts closely and to engage with critical and contextual literature.

• produce independent, creative scholarly research at an appropriate standard
• analyse a range of Victorian novels, texts and visual materials in the context of their times
• evaluate these texts in relation to genre and to the ways in which genre shapes our understanding of sociohistorical processes
• construct coherent and substantiated arguments about the texts in relation to relevant critical and theoretical contexts

This module will be delivered through a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous activities, as part of this programme’s blended provision, which will include on-campus and online teaching and support.

The precise mode of delivery and details – subject to Welsh Government and Public Health Wales guidance – of the teaching and support activities will be made available at the start of the semester via Learning Central.

Academic skills: this module will develop and practise skills in close reading (of literary and visual texts), independent scholarly research and critical thinking, while paying attention to questions of genre and historical contexts. In studying the texts, students will be encouraged to contemplate the connections and tensions between them, and to formulate original arguments around that relationship. In doing so, they will develop their ability to synthesize information and to refine their ideas into independent, informed conclusions.

Employability skills: these include the ability to synthesise information, negotiate complex ideas, communicate in group-based discussion, and write and present clear and compelling arguments in a professional manner. Student-led research will encourage skills of information collation, selection and synthesis. 

The methods of summative assessment for this module are detailed in the table below.

Formative work to be submitted before each summative assessment: you can choose between submitting, as appropriate, an essay plan/structure, synopses of essay topic options (if undecided) or sample paragraph/s; for creative assignments, you can submit working drafts of parts of your composition, as arranged with the workshop convenor.

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:
As with School policy, failed or unsubmitted assessments can be retaken during the August resit period.

Indicative Syllabus:

• Introduction
• Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton (1848)
• Charles Dickens, Bleak House (1852–53)
• George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871–72)
• Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891)
• Conclusion

Content warning: please be aware that several of the books/topics discussed in this module deal with difficult themes (including sexual violence), which some students may find distressing. If you have any concerns about this, please contact the module leader for advice.