18th and 19th Century English Novel

elective courses

Interest in the subject.

The course is a survey of the development of the novel from its beginnings till the end of the Victorian period. The genre of the novel will be presented in its diversity, based on the selected famous and influential novels from the period, allowing to discuss historical contexts, narrative techniques and political implications of novelistic narratives.

The course is planned as a survey of the development of the genre from its beginnings in the 18th century till the end of the Victorian epoch.

The course starts with a comprehensive survey of circumstances leading to the emergence of the novel as a form, including the cultural and social context of the epoch. The aim of the course is to show the diversity of the novel at the time (for instance, the epistolary novel, the novel of manners, the Gothic novel, parody and metafiction in the novel, female novels). The analysis of the selected famous and influential novels from the period will allow for the discussion of historical contexts, issues of social class, race and gender, genres and generic conventions, narrative techniques and the diverse political implications of novelistic narratives.

Selected key novels of the period will be discussed. Among others:

Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

Henry Fielding, Tom Jones

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights

Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

W. M. Thackeray, Vanity Fair

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Bram Stoker, Dracula

Selected secondary sources:

(2005) A Companion to the Eighteenth Century Novel and Culture. Paula R. Backscheider and Catherine Ingrassia (ed.) Blackwell.

(2009) The Eighteenth-Century Literature Handbook. Gary Day and Bridget Keegan (ed.) Continuum.

(2002) The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction. Jerrold E. Hogle (ed.) Cambridge UP.

(2006) The Cambridge Companion to British Romanticism. Ed. Stuart Curran. Cambridge University Press

(2005) A Concise Companion to the Victorian Novel. Ed. Francis O’Gorman. Blackwell Publishing

A Short History of English Literature. Ed. Liliana Sikorska. Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, 2007.

Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Ed. J. A. Cuddon. Penguin, 2014.

Armstrong, Nancy (1987) Desire and Domestic Fiction: A Political History of the Novel. Blackwell.

Hammond, Bran and Shaun Regan (2006) Making the Novel. Fiction and Society in Britain, 1660-1780. Palgrave.

London, April (2012). The Cambridge Introduction to the Eighteenth-Century Novel. Cambridge UP.

McKeon, Michael. (2002) The Origins of the English Novel 1600-1740. The Johns Hopkins UP.

Sussman, Charlotte. (2012) Eighteenth-Century English Literature. Polity.

Watt, Ian. (1957) The Rise of the Novel. Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding. University of California Press.

Knowledge

Students will be able to:

K_W01 Identify and characterize on an advanced level the place and status of literary studies within the humanities

K_W02 Describe on an advanced level the current trends in literary and cultural studies research on the history of the English novel within English studies

K_W04 Characterize on an advanced level the principles of research design in literary studies with special focus on the application of methods and tools in formulating research problems

K_W05 Identify the notions and principles pertinent to intellectual property and copyright

Abilities

Students will be able to:

K_U01 Apply advanced terminology and notions pertinent to the discipline (literary studies and cultural studies with reference to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British literature)

K_U02 Apply advanced research methodology within literary and culture studies and English studies, respecting ethical norms and copyright law

K_U03 Apply knowledge obtained during the course of studies to account for and solve a problem, thereby completing a research task related to the discipline of literary studies and the field of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British literature

K_U04 Analyze eighteenth-century literary and cultural phenomena and draw generalizations on their basis in the context of societal, historical and economic factors on an advanced level

K_U05 Discern alternative methodological paradigms within a discipline

K_U06 Find information in various sources and critically assess its usefulness for research related to the topic of the MA project

Social competences

Students will be ready to:

K_K02 Apply knowledge and skills obtained during the course of studies to undertake lifelong learning, as well as personal and professional development

K_K03 Take responsibility for performing one’s professional duties, with due respect for the work of others, obey and develop the ethical norms in professional and academic settings related to the disciplines included on the curriculum of English studies

K_K04 Assess critically one’s own knowledge and skills related to the studies

K_K06 Value cultural heritage and cultural diversity as well as individual opinions

1) Regular and active participation (max. 3 absences), good preparation for the classes will provide the basis for admission to the final oral examination.

2) Students will write one essay (final essay) based on the selected topic consulted with the instructor.