Specific Guidelines For The Course 2020 2021
Specific Guidelines For The Course 2020 2021
Specific Guidelines For The Course 2020 2021
2020-2021
STUDY BLOCK
UNIT ONE: The Discourse Between or the Need to “Make It New”: Literature in
an Ever-changing World.
UNIT THREE: “Disillusion as Never Told in the Old Days”: Literature and
War.
UNIT FOUR: “Life is a Luminous Halo”: The Novel in the Twentieth Century. UNIT
bear in mind that some Units may take you longer, or you might need to read the
set texts several times):
WO R K ACTI V I TI ES I N EA CH UNI T AP R O X . TI M E F
S ECTI O NS S ECTI O N O R EACH UNI T
F O R EACH S ECTI O N
UNI T
TOTAL: 25 HOURS
This course is intended to develop the student’s interaction with the literary text.
The learning outcomes for each Unit are specified at the beginning of each
chapter of NMN.
Please note that most of the titles included in the compulsory reading of the
course can be found in The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume II
(2000). The ones not included in The Norton Anthology are:
Foster, E.M., [1924] 1989 A Passage to India. London & New York: Penguin
Books.
Lawrence, D. H. [1913] (2000). Sons and Lovers. London & New York:
Penguin Twentieth Century Classics.
Woolf, Virginia Mrs Dalloway [1925] (1992) London & New York: Penguin
Modern Classics. (Included in the tenth edition)
Please note that these editions are the ones used as reference in the textbook
NMN, yet, as long as the text is complete and not an abridged version, you are
free to choose your own editions.
Below you can find the main contents, learning outcomes, and time schedule for
each Unit included in the course 2020-2021.
UNIT 1
THE DISCOURSE BETWEEN OR THE NEED TO “MAKE IT NEW”:
LITERATURE IN AN EVER-CHANGING WORLD
(NMN: Unit 1, The Discourse Between or the Need to “Make It New”: Literature in
an Ever-changing World)
1. I Introduction
1. II The Crisis of Victorian Positivism
1. III The Interpretation of an Ever-changing World
1. IV What Does Woman Want: The Rise of the New Woman
1. V The Dystopian Earnestness to Break Free.
Learning outcomes
• The many changes that took full form in this period had
been emerging during the latter half of the nineteenth
century, when a general disillusionment with the
self-assertive optimism of Victorian positivism
provoked a crisis that had its artistic manifestation in
the different avant garde movements of the twentieth
century.
Study Guidelines:
➢ Perhaps the most immediate issue that will be encountered when studying
this chapter is that the student will confront fields of knowledge such as
political and philosophical thought, psychology and psychoanalysis,
anthropology, and scientific or medical discoveries that may seem
unfamiliar and off-putting. It has to be said that although this Unit is
dealing with complex issues, it is not expected that the student should
have a profound knowledge of these subjects. Yet it is important to become
familiar with the social and intellectual background that surrounds the
literary scene of the first half of the twentieth century. Ideally, the best way
fully to understand the many issues raised here is to go to the sources and
read some of the treatises and manifestos mentioned. In so doing the
student will realize that, apart from the struggle to understand the
theoretical and critical ideas presented in these writings, there is also
pleasure to be gained by reading them. In many cases, as for example in
the cases of the works of Darwin or Freud, the narratorial component of
these writings helps to demystify the complexity of later explanations. It is
too challenging to try to collate the multiple sources that would be needed
to approach this subject. The Norton Anthology provides a selection of texts
dealing with some of the issues discussed here. A good source of
background material not only for this Unit but for the course at large is
Modernisms: An Anthology of Sources and Documents (2000) edited by
Vassiliki Kolocotroni et al.
➢ The best way to approach the contents of this Unit is by trying to enter
into the frame of mind of the ordinary citizen of the period. In this manner,
students should analyse their own responses to the different topics
explored. It is a good idea to write down these impressions and to draw
imaginatively a general picture of the many changes that the people of the
era went through. The questions at the end of the Unit will help students
to pin down the most important ideas and help them to understand the
relationship between these and the literature of the time.
UNIT 2
“THE WHITE MAN’S BURDEN”: DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO IMPERIALISM IN
LITERATURE. HEART OF DARKNESS AND PASSAGE TO INDIA
(NMN: Unit 2, “The White Man’s Burden”: Different Approaches to Imperialism in
Literature. Heart of Darkness and Passage to India)
Learning outcomes
• This Unit sets out to explore the relationship between empire and
literature, elaborating on the question of Empire put forward in Unit 1.
• The aim of this Unit is to discern the way in which narratives written in
England have shaped, supported or undermined the concept of British
imperialism. To do so two different accounts of British imperial experience
will be explored.
• There are many others, such as Frantz Fanon or Kuan-Hsing Chen, who,
instead of looking at outside powers of colonialism, have focused on
individuals and on language to detect the particular and complex
questions raised by colonialism and post-colonialism as well as culture.
Study Guidelines:
➢ Read carefully the texts proposed for study before approaching the critical
sections dealing with them. These texts are:
➢ Joseph Conrad, 2000 [1902] Heart of Darkness, in The Norton Anthology of
English Literature. Volume II (includes an introduction to the text).
➢ E.M. Forster, 1989 [1924], A Passage to India, London and New York:
Penguin Books (this is the edition that has been used for this Unit. It
contains a good introduction by the editor, Oliver Stallybrass. It also
contains Appendix I ‘Forster’s Prefatory Note (1957) to the Everyman
Edition’, Appendix II ‘Peter Burra’s Introduction to the Everyman Edition’
and Appendix III ‘Forster Programme Note to Santha Rama Rau’s
Dramatized Version’. Here students will also find some author’s ‘Notes’
that appear in the Everyman edition as well as a ‘Glossary’.
➢ Bear in mind that language is not straightforward and that there is always
a meaning other than the immediate one suggested. It is important to read
with a critical and open mind, allowing for the experience of ‘the other’ to
take place in oneself.
➢ Be prepared to make an effort as neither of the texts proposed for study in
this Unit is easy. They are as dense and as complex as poetry. For this
reason, the student should not just study the plot (which is not the
essential issue at work in these novels) but should also be aware of
elements such as silences, gaps and the unsaid that contribute as much to
the text as what is actually said.
➢ These texts participate in the different discourses that have been studied
in relation to the period, particularly seen in Unit 1 but also examined in
Units 2 and 3. They are also active participants in an intertextual space
produced by the many literary texts dealing, directly or indirectly, with the
British Empire. It is, therefore, useful always to have in mind the student’s
literary background and knowledge. So, while new literary devices and
ways of expression will be introduced, it is important that the student
should be prepared to participate in the debate by adding his/her own
knowledge and wisdom when relating this knowledge to the issues in
question.
➢ As has been pointed out above, one of the main difficulties encountered in
fully understanding this Unit is the specific use of both language and
words in the texts to be studied. It is important for this reason always to
have a good dictionary to be prepared to look up words whenever it is felt
necessary. When doing this the student should always remember that the
most immediate meaning provided will not always be the most accurate
within a particular context. Therefore, it is important to have an open
mind that allows for other possible meanings and to understand the
ambivalence a word or phrase might give to a text.
➢ Perhaps one of the main challenges in this Unit is the need to overcome
ourselves so we can fully understand the issues related to empire and
colonialism in relation to literature. Accepting that each of us, whether as
individuals or in groups, is always an ‘other’ to ‘others’ might be the first
step in the right direction. In doing so, from the experience gained when
reading these texts, we shall, it is hoped, engage in the difficult and
discomfiting act of living differently by living difference.
UNIT 3
3. I Introduction
3. II The Georgian Poets: The Changing Effect of Experiencing War
3. III Women Writing the War
Learning outcomes
• The main aim of this Unit is to study the relationship between war and
literature.
• Given the period of literature covered in the course, the Unit will
concentrate (albeit not exclusively) on the First World War.
• This was the major event that changed European civilization as it had
been known up to this conflict.
• The Unit will also deal mainly with poetry, although some prose relating to
war will also be considered.
• The general objective of the Unit is to chart the strategies through which
poets and writers in general developed original techniques and learnt from
their predecessors to convey their experiences of war. In doing so we shall
explore the ethical considerations underlying war poetry as it attempts to
transform atrocity into art.
• Therefore, this Unit will consider both aesthetic and ethical questions such
as: for whom does the poet speak, and for what purpose? How might the
poet write about violence without exploiting or cheapening it? Does the
combatant-poet have rights that are denied to civilian poets? What should
the emotional stance of the poet be? How and in what detail must the
horror of war be described? We will see that these and similar questions
are always posed implicitly, and often directly, by war poets.
• The writers studied in this Unit are by no means the only ones who could
be studied in relation to war and literature. Choosing these writers in
preference to other authors means not that they are better writers but that
they provide an adequate amount of insight into the subject as to give an
accurate idea of the main aim and objectives described here.
Study Guidelines
➢ To read carefully the poems and texts proposed for study before
approaching in depth the critical section dealing with each of them.
Apart from the quotations of poems and texts included in this Unit,
there are some that have not been fully quoted because they are
published in the Norton Anthology of English Literature such as ‘The
Soldier’ or ‘Dulce et Decorum Est.’ These poems and the texts and
fragments quoted here are compulsory reading for this Unit.
➢ To bear in mind that poetic language is condensed and that its
meaning reaches far beyond the straightforward and immediate one.
In this sense, it is imperative to note the importance of the use of the
poetic technique and poetic devices, and even the absence of these,
for they are always used consciously and are part of the process of
signification.
➢ To take into account the possible intertextual connections present in
the poems. It is important to understand that poetic intertextuality
is not merely a possible influence of a particular text on a poem. By
recalling earlier or contemporary texts the poet adds new meanings
to the poem. For this reason, it is essential that the student read the
poems with the literary background acquired in previous years and
previous Units in mind. Should this literary background be lacking
the student must look for this knowledge in manuals or notes taken
from other subjects whenever it is felt necessary. The Norton
Anthology of English Literature is a good source in this respect, as is
any history of English literature. It should be taken into account
that the background necessary for the optimal understanding of a
text might fall outside the time span of this course.
➢ To read the poems aloud so that the student experiences how poetic
language conveys meaning not only in the actual significance of the
words but also in the impediments, difficulties in the breathing,
cacophonies, alliterations and other devices obvious through the
audible pronunciation of the words.
➢ It is essential always to have a good dictionary always to hand and to
look up words whenever their meaning seems unclear or is
unknown. Allowing for ambivalence in meaning and for other
possible meanings apart from the obvious one is always a good idea.
➢ To make notes of the first impressions gained from your particular
reading of the poems, and to compare these impressions with the
information provided in the Unit. First impressions are often the
most accurate and they are in any case what the poets and writers
had in mind to begin with. After having studied the critical
UNIT 4
“LIFE IS A LUMINOUS HALO”: THE NOVEL IN THE TWENTIETH
CENTURY. SONS AND LOVERS
(NMN: Unit 4, “Life is a Luminous Halo”: The Novel in the Twentieth Century. Sons
and lovers)
Learning outcomes
• This Unit deals with the work of one of the greatest English writers of the
twentieth century, D.H. Lawrence.
• By the end of the Unit, students should be familiar with the life and
works of this writer as well as proficient in the major themes of his oeuvre.
• Special attention is devoted to his novel Sons and Lovers and, through
reading and studying it, students should become aware of different issues
that are common to many other writings and writers of the period.
• These issues are, for example, the writing of Bildungsroman, writing and
war, changing concepts in the relationships between the sexes, the
narration of sexuality, literature and censorship, literary experimentation
and techniques, and the relationship between psychoanalysis and
literature.
Study Guidelines
➢ Read and study sections 4.I and 4.II of NMN taking notes and writing your
own summaries of what you read. Then read or re-read the novel before
you go to section 4.III devoted to the reading of Sons and Lovers.
➢ It is important when you read the novel to write a short paragraph
summarising the plot and your own first impressions of the novel.
➢ Take notes of the way in which characters develop, the background of the
setting, and of the many symbols that appear.
➢ Then you can read section 4.III.
➢ After reading and studying this section, you can move then to complete
your notes by contrasting your own plot summaries, character
development and use of symbolism with what you have learned so far.
➢ Finally, go to the activities provided and try to answer the questions.
UNIT 5:
TALES OF THE CITY: VIRGINIA WOOLF’S MODERNIST GEOGRAPHIES OF THE
MIND
(NMN: Unit 5, Tales Of The City: Virginia Woolf’s Modernist Geographies Of The
Mind)
Compulsory Reading: Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and A Room of One’s Own
Due date: January, 18th 2021
Learning outcomes
• This Unit sets out to explore the impact of Modernism in the literature of
the period, with particular reference to the writer Virginia Woolf as a
modernist woman writer.
• For this purpose we shall concentrate mainly on two of her works, her
essay, A Room of One’s Own, and her novel, Mrs Dalloway, although
references to other novels and essays as well as to the socio-historical
world that surrounded the writer are included.
• The main goal of this unit is to explore the train of thought behind Woolf’s
search and her literary achievements. In doing so we will project into the
future and explore the reasons behind the impact her writing had on the
feminist movement from the nineteen-sixties and early seventies onwards.
Study Guidelines
➢ After reading the texts, re-evaluate those expectations: Has the book
fulfilled them? What has been left out and why? Has the book
surpassed them? It is also a good idea to jot down your impressions
of the book while reading it. In doing so you will start to engage with
the intellectual exercise the writer tries to extract from her/his
readers.
As stated above, every Course Unit is outlined in the same way. This means you
will also learn how to study this subject progressively, so you will soon “get the
knack” of how to approach the set literary texts. Although NMN already contains
precise instructions on how to use the textbook, here we suggest you proceed
with each Course Unit in accordance with the first table in this Guide:
The final evaluation consists of one written exam, accounting for 80% of the final
grade. You will be expected to put theory into practice answering a battery of
short questions and making an essay heavily based on your academic reading
of the literary texts... As with the PEC, you will be marked according to the
following criteria:
- Focus on the questions themselves (irrelevant information will be
considered very detrimental).
4. GLOSARIO/ GLOSSARY
We do not include a glossary as such in this Guide. The terms that students
need to work with are already listed and defined in the Course Units, designed as
part of the course work. The student is expected to work on the elaboration of
his/her own glossary of terms, with specific examples from the literary texts
guide by the course teachers team and their tutors.