English and drama

The Novel

Module code: Q3314
Level 5
15 credits in autumn semester
Teaching method: Lecture
Assessment modes: Coursework, Take away paper

This module offers an introduction to the history and theory of the novel in English from 1700 to 1900. Authors studied may include Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Mary Prince, Aphra Behn, Jane Austen, George Eliot, and others. You will be introduced to a selection of the major formal, historical, and theoretical questions posed by the novel form, which may include key ideas in narrative theory, the relationship between the novel and modernity, and the reasons that the novel has often been seen as the privileged form through which to represent social life.

Module learning outcomes

• Display familiarity with a range of novels in English from the period 1700-1900
• Analyse novels from both historical and formal perspectives
• Assess the relationship between individual novels and the wider history of the novel