EN4374 The Queen's English: Language, Literature, and Politics in the Victorian Period

Academic year

2024 to 2025 Semester 1

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

10am - 12 Thurs

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

Module coordinator

Dr G P Tate

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

Module Staff

Dr Gregory Tate

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

Module description

The Victorians are infamous for seeking to standardise the English language, either by imposing fixed rules on its grammar or by rejecting innovation and variation in favour of a supposedly pure form of English. But how fair is this reputation for linguistic intolerance? At the same time as Victorian linguists were trying to police English, diverse forms of the language were proliferating around the globe, and literature played a key part in both trends. Literary writers promoted and criticised Victorian theories of language; they wrote in and about a wide range of regional and national dialects and idioms; and they developed idiosyncratic writing styles that subverted linguistic conventions. This module's goal is to study the global diversity of Victorian literature written in English, and to show that the close reading of literary language can help us to understand the political debates about nationalism, imperialism, race, and class that shaped Victorian theorisations of English.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST TAKE EN2003 AND TAKE EN2004

Assessment pattern

Coursework = 100%

Re-assessment

Exam = 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

1 two-hour seminar (X 10 weeks)

Scheduled learning hours

20

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

280

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • Demonstrate a comprehensive critical knowledge of the reciprocal relations between literature and linguistics in the Victorian period.
  • Understand the global political debates (about imperialism, nationalism, race, and class) that informed writing in and about the English language in the nineteenth century.
  • Evaluate different critical and historical interpretations of Victorian linguistics and literature.
  • Engage in the close critical analysis of literary and linguistic texts.
  • Develop arguments based on textual evidence and on contextual and theoretical research.
  • Communicate those arguments orally (to be demonstrated in spoken contributions to class discussions) and in writing (to be assessed through written assessments).