MOBILITIES OF NATION AND EMPIRE: VICTORIAN LITERATURE 1850-1890 - 2025/6

Module Overview

This module explores the relationship between national and imperial identities in literature from the 1850s to 1890s by writers from Britain and beyond, including Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Wilkie Collins, Behramji Malabari and James Africanus Horton. The module introduces students to contextual debates about the nation-state and its imperial engagements, and seeks to understand how authors respond and contribute to these ideas through literature both from within and beyond Britain. The module engages with these themes through a focus on concepts of space and mobility, using literary journeys as a way into understanding how novelists construct a dialogue between national and imperial spaces in literary texts.

It draws upon and enhances the core knowledge and research skills acquired in second year Victorian Literature focussed modules. As a hybrid creative writing and English literature module, it also makes up part of the creative writing pathway in the degree, connecting to creative writing modules in the 1st, 2nd and final years.

Module provider

Literature & Languages

Module Leader

MATHIESON Charlotte (Lit & Langs)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): 40

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None.

Module content

Indicative content includes novels by Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, Wilkie Collins and H. Rider Haggard, along with non-fiction from the period by writers including Behramji Malabari and James Africanus Horton.

Texts studied in previous years include Bleak House, Cranford, Daniel Deronda, The Moonstone, The Indian Eye on English Life, and A Vindication of the African Race.

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.

Seminar Discussion (formative). Formative 'feed forward' will be provided by seminar tutors as responses to class discussions and to any unassessed presentations/ seminar tasks undertaken. Ongoing tutor feedback is designed to assess professional/practical skills in communicating ideas orally and transferable skills in working individually and as part of a group. It also assesses subject knowledge relating to formal, contextual, critical, and theoretical approaches to the study of Victorian literature. Seminars also assess cognitive/analytical skills in critical thinking and in the analysis of literary form and language. Formative feedback will also be provided on an optional mid-module 500 word blog post.

The 3000 word essay assess subject knowledge relating to formal, contextual, critical, and theoretical approaches to the analysis of literary form and language, cognitive/analytical skills in critical thinking, and professional/practical skills in communicating ideas in writing. The essay also assesses transferable skills, namely the ability to conduct research for written work in an organised and critical fashion and to develop and communicate imaginative and rigorous arguments in a sustained format.

Alternatively, students can produce a creative portfolio (2400 words) plus critical commentary (600 words) responding to 1 of the texts on the module and related theories/concepts/contexts.

The portfolio and commentary assess subject knowledge relating to formal, contextual, critical, and theoretical approaches to the analysis of literary form and language, cognitive/analytical skills in critical thinking, critical and creative reflection upon and response to module themes, concepts and contexts, and professional/practical skills in communicating ideas in writing. The portfolio/commentary also assesses transferable skills, namely the ability to conduct research for written work in an organised and critical fashion and to develop and communicate imaginative and rigorous arguments in a sustained format.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

A 3000 word essay OR creative portfolio (2400 words) plus critical commentary (600 words)

Formative assessment and feedback

Formative 'feed forward' is provided through seminar discussions, tutor feedback in seminars, and through an optional 500 word blog post for the module blog mid-module. The blog post can discuss any aspect of interest within the reading and/or reflect on relevant contemporary resonances of the reading. Other feedback mechanisms will be agreed between tutor and students in week 1 of the module.

Module aims

• This module aims to: broaden and deepen contextual knowledge of nation and empire in the Victorian period
• Develop understanding of how literary texts respond to and inform contextual debates
• Introduce concepts of space and mobility as theories to engage with literary texts
• Develop and strengthen skills in close reading and analysis of literary texts
• Advance students' critical thinking and application of theoretical frameworks to literature
• Improve oral and written communication skills
• Strengthen students' ability to undertake independent research, including using digital and online materials for research
• Broaden students' knowledge of writers beyond Britain in this era, looking at texts that engage with Britain and imperialism
  from countries such as India and Africa

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. The delivery of the module through two-hour lecture-seminars places an emphasis on student-led learning to develop cognitive and analytical skills in analysing fiction in its historical, socio-political and historical contexts, and enables students to develop skills in communicating and debating ideas. The module content is research-led and makes use of an online blog platform to support and advance students¿ independent study through the integration of digital resources.

This relates to the programme learning and teaching strategy, which, at FHEQ Level 6, is designed to develop subject knowledge through extended two-hour seminars and to develop transferable, practical, and professional skills, with an emphasis on sophisticated student-led involvement, critical analysis, discussion, and rhetorical ability.

The learning and teaching methods include: a combination of lecture-seminar content and materials, guided learning, independent learning, as well as 1-1 revision/essay writing appointments in week 12.

The learning and teaching methods include a combination of lecture materials, seminars, captured content, guided learning and independent learning. Students will be expected to engage with preparatory work, including reading set texts and additional critical/theoretical material; engaging with pre-seminar questions to guide and direct independent study; and contributing to online discussion boards. The lecture-seminars will build upon and develop students' independent study; they will feature a range of individual and group tasks aimed at enhancing students' skills in critical and analytical thinking and honing oral and written communication skills. Students will learn through close reading, independent research exercises, debate, and discussion. They will engage with a range of different cultural texts including novels, short stories, poems, and Victorian paintings and photographs, and will benefit from watching video clips and listening to podcasts.

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: ELI3066

Other information

The School of Literature and Languages 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:

Global and Cultural Capabilities

Through the context of the nineteenth century, this module examines issues of nation and empire that resonate with changing contemporary conceptions of identity, nationality, and globality. It asks students to engage with a diverse range of writing by authors from Britain and beyond. In situating and foregrounding the works of authors such as Behramji Malabari and James Africanus Horton, it requires students to move beyond the canon and to consider, understand, and synthesise differing views about imperialism in nineteenth-century literature and culture.

Employability

The learning, teaching, and assessment strategy for this module is designed to advance students' skills in areas that appeal to employers, such as conducting self-directed research under time constraints; the development of critical thinking and analytical skills; the ability to evaluate and employ key critical and theoretical perspectives; and the communication of complex ideas, as well as the construction of effective arguments in both oral and written forms.

Digital Capabilities

This module enables students to develop their digital skillset in a number of ways. In addition to using the university's virtual learning platform to access online course materials, captured content, and to submit coursework, students are actively encouraged to engage with other digital learning materials including multi-media resources such as online archives, scholarly websites, documentaries, and podcasts. The summative assessment requires students to undertake independent research, sourcing relevant critical and theoretical materials from the university library's online catalogue, as well as digital journal databases such as JSTOR.

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.