Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Seminar | 10 x 2 Hour Seminars |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Assignment One 1 x 2,500 word single text essay | 40% |
| Semester Assessment | Assignment Two 1 x 3,000 word comparative essay | 60% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Resubmit Failed Element Assessment One 1 x 2,500 word single text essay | 40% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Resubmit Failed Element Assessment Two 1 x 3,000 word comparative essay | 60% |
Learning Outcomes
Demonstrate a critical understanding of the generic, historical, cultural and scientific contexts that shapes the texts studies on the module.
Engage with and evaluate theoretical and critical debates on the representation of animals in nineteenth-century literature.
Produce critical work that engages in close textual analysis, employs relevant critical approaches, and makes reference to contemporary contexts and sources.
Demonstrate enhanced skills of independent thought, research, and argument.
Demonstrate an ability to compare different texts on a related theme and draw wider conclusions about the role of animals in nineteenth-century literature.
Aims
This module is part of a suite of option modules designed to deliver the 1800-1900 literature element of the degree scheme. It also includes some pre-1800 and post-1900 texts. The module is designed to introduce students to a variety of literature in different genres by canonical and non-canonical authors, and to encourage them to take a comparative approach to the representation of related themes in different texts. The focus on historical context and the engagement with extracts from key non-fiction texts alongside the literary texts may make this module of particular interest to students taking joint honours English Literature and History
Brief description
The relationship between the human and animal worlds was a significant theme in literature from the long nineteenth century. This period saw the emergence of an organised movement for animal rights and the founding of the RSPCA. It was during the nineteenth century that Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859) and Descent of Man (1871) challenged the idea of human beings as separate from the rest of the animal world. Many of the key themes of the nineteenth century, such as empire, gender and evolution, were explored through literature about animals. Through the study of a diverse range of literature, including children’s literature, detective fiction, comic poetry and science fiction, this module will examine the ways in which literature about animals was used to explore what it means to be human.
Content
Week 2: Animal Poetry: Selected poetry by poets including William Blake, John Clare, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti, Michael Field and D.H. Lawrence
Week 3: Didactic Animals: A selection of short fables for children from Mary Wollstonecraft's Original Stories from Real Life (1788), John Aikin and Anna Laetitia Barbauld’s Evenings at Home (1792-1796), and Margaret Gatty’s Parables of Nature (1855)
Week 4: Animal Rights: Anna Sewell, Black Beauty (1877), selected contextual material
Week 5: Animal Rights and Women’s Rights: George Egerton, ‘A Shadow’s Slant’ from Keynotes (1893), Mary Cholmondeley, ‘The Goldfish’ from The Romance of His Life: and Other Romances (1922), Frances Power Cobbe, ‘Wife-Torture in England’ (1878)
Week 6: Poetry and Evolution: Selected poems by poets including Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Edward Lear, Mathilde Blind, Constance Naden and May Kendall. Excerpts from works by Charles Darwin and his contemporaries
Week 7: Animals and Empire: Rudyard Kipling, ‘The Mark of the Beast’ from Life’s Handicap (1891), selected stories from The Jungle Books (1894-5)
Week 8: Demonic Animals: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
Week 9: Beast Folk: H.G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896)
Week 10: Humans and Other Animals: Selected short stories by Saki (Hector Munro) (1912-1914). Module conclusion
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | N/A |
| Communication | Written communication in the form of essays, oral communication in seminar discussion. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Developing own research skills, management of time, expression and use of language |
| Information Technology | Use of electronic resources (JSTOR, websites); use of databases of digitized newspapers and periodicals; the production of written work |
| Personal Development and Career planning | By critical reflection and the development of transferable communication skills |
| Problem solving | Formulating and developing extended arguments. |
| Research skills | By relating literary texts to historical contexts and theoretical commentaries, and by synthesizing various persepctives in an evaluative argument. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Detailed critical and contextual analysis of literary texts and evaluation of the theoretical concepts. |
| Team work | Carrying out collaborative tasks within seminars. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6