Undergraduate Course: The Novel and the Modern Self, 1688--1790 (ENLI10406)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course is designed to give an overview of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century fiction. This period, in which the novel is often said to 'rise,' was also a period of radical social change. Colonial expansion, an incipiently capitalist economy, and the division of public and private spheres all drive literary examinations of what it means to be an individual. As we think about what makes the novel the novel, we will also take account of the social and historical context of early fiction. We will be exploring the relationships among literacy, genre, gender, economics, colonialism, metropolitan social realignments, and notions of the self in eighteenth-century fiction and its readership. |
| Course description |
The course covers narratives of passion, politics and feminine agency by Aphra Behn and Eliza Haywood; fictions by Defoe and Richardson, with their lower-class heroines exercising self-determination both narrative and either economic (Moll Flanders) or moral (Pamela); the critique of this autonomous 'modern self' in Henry Fielding's third-person masterpiece Tom Jones and the self-scrutinising first-person narration of Lawrence Sterne's Tristram Shandy; and Frances Burney's epistolary novel of feminine experience, Evelina.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | A MINIMUM of 4 college/university level literature courses at grade B or above (should include no more than one introductory level literature course). Related courses such as civilisation or other interdisciplinary classes, Freshman Year Seminars or composition/creative writing classes/workshops are not considered for admission to this course. Applicants should also note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission. In making admissions decisions preference will be given to students who achieve above the minimum requirement with the typical visiting student admitted to this course having 4 literature classes at grade A.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course ** |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 30 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Other Study Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
166 )
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| Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) |
one hour autonomous learning group
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
2000 word coursework essay (30%) submitted mid-semester;
plus 3000 word final essay submitted during exam period (70%). |
| Feedback |
Students will be given written feedback on their essays via Turnitin, in the standard way. More basic feedback on exam performance will be available on request. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Formulate arguments based on academic literature and source material.
- Tailor their arguments and findings for particular audiences through oral presentation and writing.
- Identify and characterise the modes of prose fiction in English in this period.
- Understand the relation of prose fiction in English in this period to its social and intellectual context.
- Relate prose fiction in English in this period to conceptions of modernity and selfhood.
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Reading List
Primary Reading
Aphra Behn, 'Oroonoko', 'The Fair Jilt' and 'The History of the Nun' (both 1688)
Delarivier Manley, extracts from The New Atalantis (1709)
Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders (1722)
Eliza Haywood, Fantomina; or, Love in a Maze (1725); brief extracts from The Adventures of Eovaai (1737)
Samuel Richardson, Pamela (1740)
Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling (1749)
Lawrence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (1760-1767)
Frances Burney. Evelina (1776) |
Additional Information
| Course URL |
https://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/english-literature/undergraduate/current/honours |
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This course provides practice in critical and historical thinking, and in forming and articulating critical judgement (generic cognitive skills); and in the explanation and exchange of critical judgements in the context of constructive debate (communication skills). Those who complete the course will be better at presenting evidence and arguing for their ideas, and at listening to others' arguments for different ideas, in a calm, respectful and rational manner (autonomy, accountability and working with others). |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
one two-hour Seminar per week for 10 weeks; plus attendance at Autonomous Learning Group for one hour each week - at time to be arranged. |
| Keywords | Novel,Fiction,Eighteenth Century,Modernity,Selfhood,the Individual |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Robert Irvine
Tel: (0131 6)50 3605
Email: R.P.Irvine@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Lina Gordyshevskaya
Tel:
Email: pgordysh@ed.ac.uk |
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