NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE AND CULTURE - 2025/6

Module Overview

This module gives students a broad and deep understanding of nineteenth-century literature in relation to a
range of social, cultural and political contexts. Following a roughly chronological trajectory the module picks up
key issues (industrialisation, the impacts of empire, faith and doubt) and examines them through key texts and authors of the period. The module pushes students to think in nuanced ways about the relationship between text
and context and about the cultural forces which have promoted or marginalised historical voices.

Module provider

Literature & Languages

Module Leader

PALMER Beth (Lit & Langs)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): 40

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None.

Module content

We will approach the module through themes including:

• Urban Life and Industry


• Men and Women


• Faith and doubt


• Science, technology and fantasy


• Empire and the World

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate achievement of the module learning outcomes. Students will choose between several essay questions pertaining to the module's themes and will have the opportunity to create nuanced and carefully contextualised arguments.

Seminar discussion with ongoing tutor feedback is designed mainly to assess transferable skills in working as part of a group and practical/professional skills in expressing ideas and critical analysis in oral communication. It also assesses subject knowledge in the different forms of cultural contexts approached in the module and cognitive/analytical skills in close reading. Understanding complex relationships between text and context is a key part of this module and students will be encouraged to consider those links and build up their understanding each week.

The essay assesses subject knowledge in Victorian literature and culture and cognitive/analytical skills in critical thinking and in using criticism and theory in the close reading of literary texts. It sets up core knowledge and research skills useful to later modules that also cover this historical period. It also assesses practical/professional skills in expressing ideas and critical analysis in written communication, and transferable skills in working independently.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• Essay (2500 words)

Formative assessment and feedback

The module provides the opportunity for seminar discussion with tutor feedback in seminar each week. Week 6 is dedicated to discussing essay-writing strategies and planning for the essay submissions. Students may wish to submit their essay plan or other draft material to their module tutor for written or verbal feedback.

Module aims

• This module aims to deepen and expand students' understanding of: a range of poetry, prose and drama written during the
  Victorian period
• Key social, political and cultural issues of the Victorian period
  
• How text and context inform one another
• The module aims to develop and strengthen students' skills in: close reading, analysis and critical thinking
  
• Digital searching and database navigation
• Oral and written communication
• Independent work and group work in seminars
• Time management through essay submission and planning to deadlines

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to deliver subject knowledge, to develop cognitive/ analytical skills, and to develop in-depth transferable, practical, and professional skills, such as the navigation of digital databases for advanced research. Specifically, the weekly lectures deliver subject knowledge through an overview of nineteenth-century literature, and develop cognitive/analytical skills in analysing literature and its historical and intellectual contexts. This combination of knowledge and skill development build on the learning and teaching found in first year historical modules but provide greater depth and specificity around the nineteenth century period. The weekly seminars involve student-led discussions that develop skills in communication and in working individually and as part of a group. These collaborative discussions will spark ideas that feed into the essay writing process. The seminars also provide students with instruction on planning and implementing timetables for work and on presenting ideas coherently under time constraints, particularly in the sessions devoted to essay-planning and assignment preparation.

This relates to the programme learning and teaching strategy, which, at Level 5, is designed to continue the delivery of subject knowledge through lectures and SurreyLearn and to develop in-depth transferable, practical and professional skills, with a greater emphasis on student-led involvement, critical analysis, discussion and rhetorical ability.

The learning and teaching methods include:

• lectures


• seminars

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ELI2046

Other information

Surrey's Curriculum Framework is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills and capabilities in the following areas:

Digital Capabilities: Alongside the digital capabilities fostered by each module of the degree, students on ELI2034 participate in 'Digital Resources and Archives' sessions. This involves accessing the University of Surrey's relevant paper archives and also learning how to use specific digital databases. These include resources like the Times Digital Archive and British Periodicals. Students are given a case study to research and are asked to reflect on the processes of searching, sorting and selecting results from a vast array of digitised historical materials. Navigating digital databases is an important transferable skill for employability and will enable students to feel confident in approaching these materials in their final year of study, particularly in the dissertation.

Global and Cultural Capabilities: Accessing and understanding a culture other than one's own is an important part of operating in the contemporary world. It enables empathic engagement and allows for comparisons between and across cultures which help to contextualise our contemporary moment. The module asks students to think about the nineteenth century as a historical culture through which we can examine themes that continue to be important today (such as gender, class, nationhood, technological developments). The module offers contrasting voices (such as Rudyard Kipling and Mary Seacole on topics of empire and power) from across the period and asks students to explore the differences as well as the continuities in how nineteenth-century culture understood itself.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.