Course Details in 2024/25 Session

Module Title	LI Decadents and Moderns
School	Eng, Drama, & Creative Studies
Department	English Literature
Module Code	09 36227
Module Lead	Chris Mourant
Level	Intermediate Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-20 hours Seminar-10 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	This module marks one of the most complex, transitional moments in literary history. As the nineteenth century drew to a close and heralded in a new age, artists, authors, poets and playwrights mobilised to challenge the status quo across all sectors of society. In this module, we will have the opportunity to study some of the most exciting works and movements produced out of this dynamic moment. As we progress through the course, we’ll build a comprehensive understanding of the anxieties and desires that came to characterise the period: the Decadent movement’s critique of the relationship between art and life; New Imperialism and evolutionary theory; and the New Woman’s destabilization of traditional gender roles. We will then explore the aesthetic debates and cultural scene of Anglo-American literary modernism, its focus on ‘modern’ life and experiments in narrative style and poetic form. Over the course of the module, we will think about the various ways in which writers across the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries responded to social change and challenged literary conventions to 'make it new'. Authors on this course may include: Ernest Dowson, Toru Dutt; Lionel Johnson, Walter Pater, Cornelia Sorabji, Oscar Wilde, Olive Schreiner, D. H. Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, T. S. Eliot, Jean Rhys, Zora Neale Hurston and Djuna Barnes.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Demonstrate skills in close reading texts from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and ability to comment on the characteristic literary styles, genres and discourses employed; Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of writing from the from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, within appropriate social, material and cultural contexts; Identify and evaluate appropriate critical approaches to writing from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Assessment	36227-01 : Portfolio 1,500 Words : Coursework (40%) 36227-03 : 2,000 word essay : Coursework (60%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Portfolio of close readings 1,500 words (40%) Essay 2,000 words (60%) Reassessment: Resubmission of failed component(s)
Other
Reading List