EN4373 Material Culture in Victorian and Modernist Fiction

Academic year

2024 to 2025 Semester 2

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 10

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Availability restrictions

Not automatically available to General Degree students

Planned timetable

2.00 pm - 4.00 pm Fri

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr C M Alt

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr Christina Alt (CMA7)

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

This module will use material culture studies as a lens through which to consider the continuities and ruptures between Victorian and modernist attitudes towards material culture and the ways in which attitudes towards the material informed the stylistic choices of fiction writers in these periods. Victorian novelists typically filled their works with detailed descriptions of physical environments and objects in order to create the 'solidity of specification' characteristic of realist fiction; modernist writers rejected this method as 'materialist' and sought alternatives to the solidity of the triple-decker novels of the Victorians. However, this module will question such easy distinctions and consider both differences and continuities between Victorian and modernist writers' fascination with and suspicion of things (Group C)

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST PASS EN2003 AND PASS EN2004

Assessment pattern

2-hour Written Examination = 50%, Coursework = 50%

Re-assessment

exam = 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

1 x 2-hour seminar, and 2 optional consultative hours.

Intended learning outcomes

  • Demonstrate a detailed knowledge and critical appreciation of key works of Victorian and modernist fiction
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the range of interpretive approaches making up the field of material culture studies and the capacity to apply these approaches in appropriate ways
  • Demonstrate skills in the critical reading and evaluation of primary texts and relevant secondary material
  • Demonstrate skills in library and online research
  • Demonstrate oral skills, tested via group discussion
  • Demonstrate written skills, tested by means of essays and end-of-semester examinations