Reading Late Victorian Literature

Level 6 (30 credits)

Subject Area:
Nineteenth-Century Studies

This module will introduce students to a wide range of different writings from the last two decades of the nineteenth century, including poetry, the short story, and the novel. In addition to making a general survey of the visual and literary imagination in the writing of the period, students will be encouraged to explore such things as representation of the body, gender and sexuality, the pagan or antique past, and themes such as beauty, obsession, the divided self, and degeneration.

Preparing for this Module and Approximate Costs

Please acquire and read as many of the following texts as you can. It is also possible to access texts via the internet and download original editions from archive.org but the editions specified below are recommended. It is strongly recommended that you at least read the novels by Haggard, Wilde, and Stevenson before the module starts.

Walter Pater, 'Sebastian van Storck' and 'Denys L'Auxerrois', from Imaginary Portraits, ed. Lene Østermark-Johansen, MHRA Jewelled Tortoise Series (2014). This excellent edition is available free as an e-book from JSTOR via QM Library. Click on the URL link for this edition in the Library catalogue and you can download expertly annotated versions of both stories. The Introduction to this edition is also worth reading.

Vernon Lee, Hauntings and Other Fantastic Tales, eds. Catherine Maxwell and Patricia Pulham (Broadview Press 2006) OR Vernon Lee, The Virgin of the Seven Daggers and Other Stories, ed. Aaron Worth (Penguin, 2022).

(Read Lee's short stories 'Amour Dure', 'Dionea', and 'A Wedding Chest')

Rider Haggard, She, World's Classics, ed. Daniel Karlin (1991) is best, but any good quality annotated paperback edition.

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Norton Critical Editions (2007), ed. Michael Patrick Gillespie, OR World's Classics, ed. Joseph Bristow (2006) are the best paperback editions.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Norton Critical Editions (2021), ed. Deborah Lutz is best, but any good annotated paperback edition.

Daughters of Decadence: Women Writers of the Fin de Siècle, ed. Elaine Showalter (Virago, 1993).

Thomas Hardy, The Well-Beloved (1897), NOT The Pursuit of the Well-Beloved (1892). Use one of the following editions: Oxford: World's Classics, 1986; London: Everyman, Dent, 1997; Ware: Wordsworth Classics, 2000; Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2007.

Other material including poetry by Eugene Lee-Hamilton and Charlotte Mew will be provided for you in the modulepack or on QMplus.

Primary texts costing up to £45 if purchased new in recommended editions. These costs can be greatly reduced by purchasing items second-hand or borrowing them from the Library and many texts are also available free online. While students are asked to visit two London cultural sites associated with the module necessitating tube travel in zones 1 or 2, sites with no admission fees are listed.

Why take
Reading Late Victorian Literature
?

Diverse, imaginative, and exciting selection of texts including prose, poetry, short stories, and the novel
Varied and stimulating range of topics from sexuality to the supernatural
Taught by a widely published and enthusiastic expert in late Victorian literature

Learning Context	Long Seminar + 1 hour seminar
Semester	One
Assessment	Presentation (10 mins), 10% Written Assignment 1 (1500 words), 30% Written Assignment 2 (3500 words), 60%
Mode of reassessment	Standard
Contact	Catherine Maxwell

Content Notes

English Modules

Department of English UG Module Directory (2024)

ESH6083

Reading Late Victorian Literature

Level 6 (30 credits)