106-039 Literary Classics

Usually 25 points of first-year English, see Prerequisites.

This subject provides opportunities not only to study various texts commonly regarded as classics of English literature but also to enquire into how they came to achieve this status. Students who complete this subject successfully will understand why literary classics attract competing interpretations; understand why 'literature' and 'literary merit' are contested categories in the history of writing; and develop a critical understanding of both right-wing defences of literary canons and left-wing critiques of them.

• be able to apply new research skills and critical methods to a field of inquiry;

• develop critical self-awareness and shape and strengthen persuasive arguments;

• communicate arguments and ideas effectively and articulately, both in writing and to others.

An essay of 1500 words 40% (due mid-semester) and an essay of 2500 words 60% (due at the end of the semester).

A subject reader will be available from the University Bookshop.

• J Austen, Emma. Oxford World's Classics.
• J Conrad, Heart of Darkness. Oxford World's Classics.
• G Eliot, Middlemarch. Penguin.
• T S Eliot, The Waste Land. Faber.
• Shakespeare, Hamlet. Oxford.
• Patrick White, Riders of the Chariot. (NYRB books).