Course coordinator
Dr Melissa Dickson
Course overview
- Study period
- Semester 2, 2024 (22/07/2024 - 18/11/2024)
- Study level
- Undergraduate
- Location
- St Lucia
- Attendance mode
- In Person
- Units
- 2
- Administrative campus
- St Lucia
- Coordinating unit
- Communication & Arts School
This course introduces students to major works of literature from the 1850s to the first decades of the twentieth century. This period of dramatic change, as Britain moved rapidly from a predominantly rural economy to become an urbanised, industrialised nation will be discussed alongside key issues such as transforming attitudes about Christianity, evolution, and scientific materialism; gender, sexuality and the role of women; changing social and community relations; debates about democracy and the role of Empire; and the development of new sciences, technologies, and psychologies. We will consider how such writers as George Eliot, Henry James, Oscar Wilde, and Virginia Woolf addressed and reflected such issues in their work, across various genres including the novel, drama, the short story, the poem and the essay. We will also consider how the literature of this period relates to the Romanticism that preceded it and we will consider the forces of Modernism that transformed Victorian and Edwardian aesthetics.
Course requirements
Assumed background
Students should be at an advanced level of their undergraduate study. As a 3000-levelﾠcourse, ENGL3900ﾠdraws from and builds uponﾠyour previous experiences of reading and thinking about literature throughout your major.ﾠ
Prerequisites
You'll need to complete the following courses before enrolling in this one:
ENGL1800 or ENGL1500 plus 2 units of ENGL Level 2 courses.
Incompatible
You can't enrol in this course if you've already completed the following:
ENGL1900
Course contact
Course staff
Lecturer
Dr Melissa Dickson
Timetable
The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.
Additional timetable information
Whilst every effort is made to place students in their preferred activity, it is not always possible for a student to be enrolled in their tutorial of choice. If you require assistance, please ensure that you email timetabling.commarts@enquire.uq.edu.au from your UQ student email with:
- Your name
- Your student ID
- The course code
- A list of three tutorial preferences (in order of preference)
- Reason for the change – e.g. timetable clash, elite athlete status, SAP
Teaching staff do not have access to change tutorials or help with timetables; all timetabling changes must be processed through the Timetabling Team.
Aims and outcomes
- To give students an understandingﾠof some of the major English-language writersﾠof the period from approximately 1850 toﾠ1960.ﾠ
- To provide an understanding of the keyﾠaesthetic and intellectual movements of the period.ﾠ
- To offer ways in which these literary texts can be read and understood within their intellectual and social contexts.ﾠ
- To develop oral and written argumentation skills.
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this course you should be able to:
LO1.
Have an understanding of some of the most significant English-language writers, and intellectual and aesthetic movements of the period from approximately 1850 to 1960
LO2.
Have an understanding of the key political, cultural, and biographical contexts out of which English-language literature of 1850-1960 emerged.
LO3.
Formulate, present and defend a proposal or position with relation to modern literature, tolerate constructive criticism, and incorporate feedback into ongoing projects.
Assessment
Assessment summary
| Category | Assessment task | Weight | Due date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Participation/ Student contribution |
Tutorial Participation
|
10% |
Week 2 - Week 13 |
| Essay/ Critique | 1st Short Essay | 20% 800 words |
23/08/2024 4:00 pm |
| Essay/ Critique | 2nd Short Essay | 20% 800 words |
20/09/2024 4:00 pm |
| Essay/ Critique | Long Essay | 50% 2200 words |
4/11/2024 4:00 pm |
Assessment details
Tutorial Participation
- In-person
- Mode
- Activity/ Performance
- Category
- Participation/ Student contribution
- Weight
- 10%
- Due date
Week 2 - Week 13
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03
Task description
Overview:
This task assesses your participation in the tutorial program across the Semester. For the purposes of assessment, the three components of meaningful participation are: preparation for and attendance at class; engagement with the learning activities in class; and respectful peer collaboration.
Task:
In order to get the most out of the tutorials, you need to actively participate in them. This involves more than simply showing up. You should ensure that you prepare for class by reading each week’s set text in full before attending.
Parameters:
You will be allocated a participation mark based on the quality of your contribution to each tutorial you attend.
While lecture attendance is not formally recorded, it is critical that you attend lectures (or listen to the recorded lectures) in order to achieve the highest possible mark for this participation task. The quality of the contributions you are able to offer in tutorials will, after all, significantly depend on your command of the lecture material.
Use of Generative AI/MT: This assessment task is to be completed in-person. The use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT) tools will not be permitted. Any attempted use of AI or MT may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submission guidelines
Deferral or extension
You cannot defer or apply for an extension for this assessment.
Please note: this is a class assessment item and students are NOT able to apply for an extension via the Unitask portal. Please contact your course coordinator directly to see if alternative arrangements are available.
Late submission
Late submission is not possible for this piece of assessment.
1st Short Essay
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Essay/ Critique
- Weight
- 20% 800 words
- Due date
23/08/2024 4:00 pm
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03
Task description
You will be asked to write an essay of 800 words on EITHER Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the Durbervilles OR Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest in response to a question provided ahead of time.
Your essay should have a clear argument, illustrated by appropriate evidence from the texts (including quotations). You are not required to cite secondary material. However, writers who read widely almost always produce work of higher quality; therefore, you are encouraged to find out as much as you can about the texts, their authors, and the contexts (social, political, intellectual) in which they were written.
Use of Generative AI/MT: This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT). Students are advised that the use of AI or MT technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submission guidelines
Please submit via TurnItIn on the link provided on Blackboard.
TurnItIn Receipts:
Assignments for this course will be submitted electronically via Blackboard and using TurnItIn. Before submitting any assignments for this course you must ensure you have completed UQ's compulsory online Academic Integrity Tutorial.
When you successfully submit your assessment to TurnItIn you will see text confirming your submission is complete, before being redirected to your Assignment inbox. On this page you can:
- View the name of the submitted file
- View date and time of the upload
- Resubmit your paper (if necessary)
- Download your submitted paper
- Download digital receipt.
If you cannot see your submission in your Assignment inbox you should regard your submission as unsuccessful. Students are responsible for retaining evidence of submission by the due date for all assessment items, in the required form (e.g. screenshot, email, photo, and an unaltered copy of submitted work).
If the submission was not successful:
- Note the error message (preferably take a screenshot).
- Go to your assignment page and see if it is possible to submit again.
- If you cannot submit again email your course coordinator immediately with the assignment attached.
Please visit this webpage for further advice on how to submit your TurnItIn assignment.
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
Late submission
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
2nd Short Essay
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Essay/ Critique
- Weight
- 20% 800 words
- Due date
20/09/2024 4:00 pm
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03
Task description
You will be asked to write an essay of 800 words on either Doyle's The Sign of Four OR Wells's The War of the Worlds OR Conrad’s Heart of Darkness OR one of the poems provided to a question given ahead of time.
Your essay should have a clear argument, illustrated by appropriate evidence from the texts (including quotations). You are not required to cite secondary material. However, writers who read widely almost always produce work of higher quality; therefore, you are encouraged to find out as much as you can about the texts, their authors, and the contexts (social, political, intellectual) in which they were written.
Use of Generative AI/MT: This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT). Students are advised that the use of AI or MT technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submission guidelines
Please submit via TurnItIn on the link provided on Blackboard.
TurnItIn Receipts:
Assignments for this course will be submitted electronically via Blackboard and using TurnItIn. Before submitting any assignments for this course you must ensure you have completed UQ's compulsory online Academic Integrity Tutorial.
When you successfully submit your assessment to TurnItIn you will see text confirming your submission is complete, before being redirected to your Assignment inbox. On this page you can:
- View the name of the submitted file
- View date and time of the upload
- Resubmit your paper (if necessary)
- Download your submitted paper
- Download digital receipt.
If you cannot see your submission in your Assignment inbox you should regard your submission as unsuccessful. Students are responsible for retaining evidence of submission by the due date for all assessment items, in the required form (e.g. screenshot, email, photo, and an unaltered copy of submitted work).
If the submission was not successful:
- Note the error message (preferably take a screenshot).
- Go to your assignment page and see if it is possible to submit again.
- If you cannot submit again email your course coordinator immediately with the assignment attached.
Please visit this webpage for further advice on how to submit your TurnItIn assignment.
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
Late submission
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
Long Essay
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Essay/ Critique
- Weight
- 50% 2200 words
- Due date
4/11/2024 4:00 pm
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03
Task description
You will be asked to write a research essay of 2200 words on TWO texts in response to a question given ahead of time.
You may not discuss any text or author you wrote about for either of the two shorter essays.
You will need to read widely, and to incorporate a range of secondary material (historical, biographical, critical) into your response. All sources must be fully and correctly cited. There are no hard-and-fast rules regarding how much secondary reading you should do—but students who read widely generally produce better essays.
Your essay should:
• Have a clear, focused, unified, and persuasive argument, and a title that clearly expresses what the essay is about
• Support its claims with relevant evidence from the work under discussion
• Make effective and thoughtful use of a range of relevant secondary material. Aim for at least four substantial separate sources.
• Be written in elegant, correct, clear, and concise English
• Be presented in MLA style, and be free of typos
• Be typeset using a 12-point-size standard font and double-line spacing. Fancy cover pages, illustrations, and other decorative embellishments are to be avoided.
Use of Generative AI/MT: This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Translation (MT). Students are advised that the use of AI or MT technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submission guidelines
Please submit via TurnItIn on the link provided on Blackboard.
TurnItIn Receipts:
Assignments for this course will be submitted electronically via Blackboard and using TurnItIn. Before submitting any assignments for this course you must ensure you have completed UQ's compulsory online Academic Integrity Tutorial.
When you successfully submit your assessment to TurnItIn you will see text confirming your submission is complete, before being redirected to your Assignment inbox. On this page you can:
- View the name of the submitted file
- View date and time of the upload
- Resubmit your paper (if necessary)
- Download your submitted paper
- Download digital receipt.
If you cannot see your submission in your Assignment inbox you should regard your submission as unsuccessful. Students are responsible for retaining evidence of submission by the due date for all assessment items, in the required form (e.g. screenshot, email, photo, and an unaltered copy of submitted work).
If the submission was not successful:
- Note the error message (preferably take a screenshot).
- Go to your assignment page and see if it is possible to submit again.
- If you cannot submit again email your course coordinator immediately with the assignment attached.
Please visit this webpage for further advice on how to submit your TurnItIn assignment.
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
Late submission
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
Course grading
Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.
| Grade | Cut off Percent | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (Low Fail) | 1 - 24 |
Absence of evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 2 (Fail) | 25 - 44 |
Minimal evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 3 (Marginal Fail) | 45 - 49 |
Demonstrated evidence of developing achievement of course learning outcomes |
| 4 (Pass) | 50 - 64 |
Demonstrated evidence of functional achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 5 (Credit) | 65 - 74 |
Demonstrated evidence of proficient achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 6 (Distinction) | 75 - 84 |
Demonstrated evidence of advanced achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 7 (High Distinction) | 85 - 100 |
Demonstrated evidence of exceptional achievement of course learning outcomes. |
Additional course grading information
- Where fractional marks occur in the calculation of the final grade, a mark of x.5% or greater will be rounded up to (x+1)%. A percentage mark of less than x.5% will be rounded down to x%.
- Where no assessable work is received, a Grade of X will apply.
Supplementary assessment
Supplementary assessment is available for this course.
Additional assessment information
- Further information regarding the assessment, including marking criteria and/or marking rubrics are available in the ‘Assessment’ folder in Blackboard for this course.
- Marks Cannot Be Changed After Being Released: Marks are not open to negotiation with course staff. If you wish to discuss the feedback you have received, you should make an appointment to speak with the Course Coordinator.
- Assessment Re-mark: If you are considering an Assessment Re-mark, please follow the link to important information you should consider before submitting a request.
- Integrity Pledge: Assignments for this course will be submitted electronically via Blackboard and using Turnitin. Before submitting any assignments for this course, you must ensure you have completed UQ's compulsory online Academic Integrity Modules.ﾠIn uploading an assignment via Turnitin you are certifying that it is your original work, that it has not been copied in whole or part from another person or source except where this is properly acknowledged, and that it has not in whole or part been previously submitted for assessment in any other course at this or any other university.
- Withholding marks prior to finalisation of grades: Per UQ Assessment Procedures – Release of Assessment Item Marks and Grades: The final assessment item and the marks for the assessment item are to be released only after the final grade for the course has been released.
Learning resources
You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.
Library resources
Find the required and recommended resources for this course on the UQ Library website.
Additional learning resources information
ﾠ
Learning activities
The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.
Filter activity type by
Please select
| Learning period | Activity type | Topic |
|---|---|---|
Week 1 (22 Jul - 28 Jul) |
Lecture |
Week 1 Lecture: We begin this module with an introduction to the course in general and to the Victorian Era in particular. I will outline some of the themes and ambivalences that we find in works of the Victorian era, many of which will emerge in the texts we’ll be reading in the following weeks. The scientific, technological, and socio-cultural of the period provide important context for the literature to come, and it is in many ways impossible to think through that literature without some kind of grasp of the milieu in which they were written, read, received, and published. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
Tutorial |
Week 1 : NO TUTORIALS Tutorials start in Week 2 Learning outcomes: L01, L02 |
|
Week 2 (29 Jul - 04 Aug) |
Lecture |
Week 2 Lecture: This week we turn to the poet and novelist Thomas Hardy, a Realist in the tradition of George Eliot writing mainly during the last decade of the nineteenth-century, which you will sometimes see referred to as a moment of Naturalism. Naturalism, as a movement, takes the Realist elements of objectivity, detached narration, and interest in the everyday which we have seen in several of our novels, and it adds an explicit focus on heredity and environment as factors critical to shaping individuals. Hardy was highly critical of his Late Victorian society, but in particular of what he considered to be the declining status of rural people in Britain, such as those from his native South West England. Much of Hardy’s oeuvre concerns tragic characters, individuals who are struggling against their passions, their own natures, their social circumstances, and the encroachment of modernity into their lives. In this lecture we will think about the larger forces implicated in Tess’ tragic life, particularly in terms of its understanding of modernity, and the condition of rural England in the late nineteenth century, in order to encourage you to think beyond the basic, plot-level, facts of Tess’s situation and to explore the broader forces at work in the text. We will consider the historic and economic forces at work in driving Tess's fate before turning to questions of heredity and biological inheritance. We will also consider briefly the symbolism of Stonehenge, and some possible conclusions the novel draws. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
Tutorial |
Week 2 Tutorial: Please finish reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles before we meet. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
|
Week 3 (05 Aug - 11 Aug) |
Lecture |
Week 3 Lecture: This week we move from the literary realism and naturalism of Thomas Hardy to the aestheticism of Oscar Wilde, focusing on The Importance of Being Earnest. After a brief outline of Wilde's life, we will move on to his social, cultural, and ideological position as an aesthete in late nineteenth-century Britain, before turning more fully to The Importance of Being Earnest as as our case study and an example of a well-made play. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
Tutorial |
Week 3 Tutorial: Please read The Importance of Being Earnest before we meet. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
|
Week 4 (12 Aug - 18 Aug) |
Lecture |
Week 4: READING WEEK - NO LECTURE |
Tutorial |
Week 4: READING WEEK - NO TUTORIALS |
|
Week 5 (19 Aug - 25 Aug) |
Lecture |
Week 5 Lecture: This week we turn to genre fiction, to consider the ways in which Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, operates within the metropolis of London as well as the wider imperial networks of 1890s Britain. It is no accident that detective stories took hold when they did, in Britain in the nineteenth century, and in the lecture, we will consider the work Holmes is performing for modern British society, as well as the deployment and expulsion of crime, of poison, and of the grotesque in the metropolis. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
Tutorial |
Week 5 Tutorial: Please read The Sign of Four before we meet. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
|
Week 6 (26 Aug - 01 Sep) |
Lecture |
Week 6 Lecture: This week brings us almost to the turn of the century, with H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, a so-called 'Scientific Romance' written between 1895 and 1897, first published in novel form in 1898. In this lecture we will explore this moment, at the end of the nineteenth century, when Wells - amongst others - is thinking about British position in the world, and the position of the human race on the earth. We will explore the scientific and intellectural currents that inform this novel, framining it in terms of some of the debates of the moment, and in terms of Wells's own experience and his own position within debates around science and politics in the nineteenth century. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
Tutorial |
Week 6 Tutorial: Please read The War of the Worlds before we meet. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
|
Week 7 (02 Sep - 08 Sep) |
Lecture |
Week 7 Lecture: This week we turn to poetry and trace major themes and concerns across a selection of Victorian to modernist poetry. Copies of selected poems will be provided on blackboard. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
Tutorial |
Week 7 Tutorial: Please read the poetry selection before we meet. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
|
Week 8 (09 Sep - 15 Sep) |
Lecture |
Week 8 Lecture: This week we read Heart of Darkness, a novella by the Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad, which recounts a sailor's story of his journey as steamer captain in the African interior. We will position this novel as a critique of European colonial rule in Africa, whilst also examining questions of power dynamics and morality. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
Tutorial |
Week 8 Tutorial: Please read The Heart of Darkness before we meet. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
|
Week 9 (16 Sep - 22 Sep) |
Lecture |
Week 9: READING WEEK - NO LECTURE |
Tutorial |
Week 9: READING WEEK - NO TUTORIALS |
|
Mid Sem break (23 Sep - 29 Sep) |
No student involvement (Breaks, information) |
Mid-Semester Break |
Week 10 (30 Sep - 06 Oct) |
Lecture |
Week 10 Lecture: This week, we move firmly into the twentieth century, with E.M. Forster's masterpiece, Howard's End, first published in 1910. We will consider its treatment of social conventions, codes of conduct and romance in turn-of-the-century England. Howards End . Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
Tutorial |
Week 10 Tutorial: Please read Howard's End before we meet. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
|
Week 11 (07 Oct - 13 Oct) |
Lecture |
Week 11 Lecture: This week we turn to modernist short stories by the New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield, and Irish writer James Joyce. You are, of course, welcome to read more stories than the two set; however, we will be focusing our discussion on 'The Dead' and 'The Garden Party'. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
Tutorial |
Week 11 Tutorial: Please read 'The Dead' and 'The Garden Party' before we meet. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
|
Week 12 (14 Oct - 20 Oct) |
Lecture |
Week 12 Lecture: In our second last week of the course, we look at a modernist novel, Virginia Woolf's Jacob's Room, published in 1922. Woolf's third novel, Jacob's Room is her first truly experimental work. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
Tutorial |
Week 12 Tutorial: Please read Jacob's Room before we meet. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
|
Week 13 (21 Oct - 27 Oct) |
Lecture |
Week 13 Lecture: We finish this course with D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, a work infamous for its explicit descriptions of sex, use of four-letter words, and depiction of a relationship between an upper-class woman and a working-class man. Perhaps most outrageous at the time, though, was the author's portrayal of female sexual pleasure. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
Tutorial |
Week 13 Tutorial: Please read Lady Chatterley's Lover before we meet. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
Policies and procedures
University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:
- Student Code of Conduct Policy
- Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
- Assessment Procedure
- Examinations Procedure
- Reasonable Adjustments - Students Policy and Procedure
Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.