106-262/362 Women and Fiction in the Nineteenth Century

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Subject Description:

This subject is an introduction to nineteenth-century novels written by women, and to issues in feminist literary criticism and theory, particularly the significance of gender in literary discourse. Students who complete the subject successfully will have acquired an overview of feminist literary theory and be able to apply its tenets and methods to the reading of fiction; they will also have acquired an overview of British fiction and the major historical events of the period. Students will also be able to synthesise material from historical, fictional and literary-critical/theoretical texts into coherent analysis and argument in their written work.

Assessment:

Prescribed Texts:

• L M Alcott, Little Women, Signet.
• J Austen, Emma, Norton Critical.
• M E Braddon, Lady Audley's Secret, Oxford.
• C Brontë, Villette, Penguin.
• E Brontë, Wuthering Heights, Norton Critical.
• K Chopin, The Awakening, Norton Critical.
• M Cox and R A Gilbert eds, Victorian Ghost Stories, Oxford.
• C Dickens, Dombey and Son, Penguin.
• G Eliot, Middlemarch, Penguin.
• E Gaskell, Ruth, Oxford.
• M Gaunt, Kirkham's Find, Penguin.
• M Oliphant, Phoebe Junior, Virago.