Course for international guest/part time students
- Faculty
- Faculty of Humanities
- Organization
- BTK Department of English Studies
- Code
- BMI-ANGD17-CI5aE.01
- Title
- 18th Century Fiction and Drama - Foundations and Perspectives: Realist Fiction from Defoe to Jane Austen
- Usual semester
- Spring
- ECTS
- 3
- Language
- en
- Learning outcomes
- The aim of this course is to introduce students to the main trends and periods of the 17th -18th century English novel. The course equips students with the basic skills of literary interpretation and explores the various forms and generic characteristics of the English novel of the era. It explores assumptions underlying interpretive methods and approaches to literary texts. It also seeks to enable students to master the basics of critical thinking and writing and to provide guidance in philological work.
- Course content
- The seminars are devoted to the contextualization and discussion of the main texts of realist fiction. On the one hand, the focus is on the relevant cultural, historical and ideological background, and the changing structure and generic features of the 17th-18th century English novel. On the other hand, we look at excerpts from individual texts that illustrate and, at the same time, challenge standard interpretations. This approach to the various forms of realist fiction leads to the discussion of literary theoretical and philosophical questions that enable students to master difficult texts on their own.
- Assessment method
- Assessment criteria include attendance, inclass activities, a midterm paper and an essay on an individually selected author.
- Bibliography
- excerpts from: n Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe. n Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders. n Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels. n Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal. n Henry Fielding, Tom Jones. n Samuel Richardson, Pamela. n Laurence Sterne, Sentimental Journey n Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.