'We are [not] Amused': Victorian Comic Literature (U03280)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : LLC-4-U03280

Although 'comedy' and 'humour' are not words readily associated with this period, Victorian culture was rife with various manifestations of what George Meredith called 'comic spirit'. By adopting a largely chronological approach, this course traces the development of the comic genre from the early Victorian comic prose of Dickens and Thackeray, through to Wildean farce at the fin de siècle. Among the concepts of comedy discussed will be high and low comedy, irony, wordplay, comic songs, satire, black comedy, farce and comedy of manners. Each week, in addition to chosen core material, we will examine a variety of theoretical material relevant to this course. This will include work by writers such as Meredith, Bergson, Freud and Bakhtin, together with more recent critical perspectives on this topic.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : Passes in English or Scottish Literature 1 and English or Scottish or American Literature 2, with a mark of 50 or above at the first attempt in the second year course. Passes in third year courses in the subject area amounting to at least 40 credits.

? Special Arrangements for Entry : Numbers are limited and students taking degrees not involving English or Scottish or American literature need the written approval of the head of English Literature.

? Costs : Essential course texts

Subject Areas

Home subject area

English Literature, (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, Schedule G)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 4th year

? Delivery Period : Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

? Other Required Attendance : 1 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
20/09/2007	09:00	10:50			Room 1.13, 18 Buccleuch Place

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Thursday	09:00	10:50	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will:

Gain a detailed historical and theoretical understanding of a key literary genre. This understanding of the forms of comedy in the Victorian period will inform and complement the future study of this genre in other literary periods.

The student completing this course will also gain experience of a wide variety of textual forms (novels, short stories, plays, poetry, song lyrics) and will understand how to incorporate these diverse forms into critical debates.

In addition, the chronological nature of this course will allow the student to trace the ways in which a major literary genre is subject to change over a relatively short period of time.