Key facts

Type	Online and Distance Learning
Location	Online
Dates	Mon 23 Sep to Fri 6 Dec 2013
Subject area(s)	Literature
CATS points	10
Fees	From £220.00
Application status	Applications being accepted
Course code	O13P344LTV
Course contact	If you have any questions about this course, please email onlinecourses@conted.ox.ac.uk.

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Overview

Nineteenth- century literature was diverse, exciting and mobile; literary movements were not restricted to single countries, but developed through crossing linguistic and geographic boundaries. This course is for anyone who is interested in nineteenth-century literature and society, and will also appeal to anyone who would like to gain a greater sense of how literature transformed throughout the nineteenth century.
Students completing this course will be invited to join our online book group.

Description

The nineteenth-century development of Romantic and realist literature was not restricted to Britain, or indeed any other single European country. Literary movements were created through a dynamic interplay which took place between authors of differing nationalities. This course will encourage students to read comparatively across European texts of varying genres in English translation, in order to gain a greater sense of literary developments and the techniques employed in fiction of the period. The course will examine the fraught relation between self and society, and how this is negotiated in each of the literary texts. This course is for anyone who is interested in nineteenth-century literature and society, and will also appeal to anyone who would like to gain a greater sense of how literature transformed across the course of the century as we move from German Romanticism through to Norwegian social drama.

Programme details

• Introduction to nineteenth-century Europe and literature
• Faust Part One
• Faust Part One II
• Manzoni, The Betrothed
• Manzoni, The BetrothedII
• Flaubert, Madame Bovary
• Flaubert, Madame BovaryII
• Ibsen, Hedda Gabler
• Ibsen, Hedda GablerII
• Course conclusion

We strongly recommend that you try to find a little time each week to engage in the online conversations (at times that are convenient to you) as the forums are an integral, and very rewarding, part of the course and the online learning experience.

Course aims

This course aims to introduce participants to nineteenth-century literature from various European countries in translation: namely, Germany, Italy, France and Norway. We shall explore themes that recur and transform throughout the century; the fraught relationship between self and society will be a central concern as we move from Romantic poetry through to fin de siècle social drama. This course will enable participants to:

• Analyse literary works of different genres, whether play, poem or novel;
• Understand and discuss the implications of genre and/or narrative discourse;
• Understand and discuss the key concerns found in various permutations across nineteenth-century Europe, specifically concerning the relationship between self and society;
• Understand and perform the comparative reading process: to see how reading across multiple texts can be an illuminating and productive process;
• Understand and discuss the issues bound up with reading in translation.

Certification

This course is accredited and you are expected to take the course for credit. To be awarded credit you must complete written contributions satisfactorily. Successful students will receive credit, awarded by the Board of Studies of Oxford University Department for Continuing Education. The award will take the form of 10 units of transferable credit at FHEQ level 4 of the Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS). A transcript detailing the credit will be issued to successful students.

Assessment methods

In this course assessment is through two short written pieces totalling about 1000 words.

Level and demands

FHEQ level 4, 10 weeks, approx 10 hours per week, therefore a total of about 100 study hours.

Recommended reading

To participate in the course you will need to have regular access to the Internet and you will need to buy the following paperback books:

• Goethe, J.W. Faust, Part One (1987) trans. David Luke. Oxford University Press, Oxford.


• Manzoni, A. The Betrothed (1972) trans. Bruce Penman. Penguin, London.


• Flaubert, G. Madame Bovary (1992) trans. Geoffrey Wall. Penguin, London.


• Ibsen, H. Hedda Gabler, in Four Major Plays (1981) trans. Jens Arup. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Teaching methods

• Guided reading of texts
• Guided use of existing websites
• Discussions of particular issues and responses to reading in the unit forums
• Close critical analyses of selected extracts from the texts studied

Teaching outcomes

By the end of this course... You will understand:

• The broad literary developments of the 19th century
• The pan-European nature of literary movements
• The key issues repeatedly returned to in literature of the 19th century, particularly concerning self, society and gender;
• The issues bound up with reading in translation.

And you will have developed the following skills:

• An enhanced ability to close read and comment upon extracts from poetry, novels and plays
• An ability to read comparatively from one text to another
• The ability to make informed connections between literatures emerging from different countries
• Enhanced ability to create dialogues between their contextual reading and the primary literary texts.

Fee options

Programme Fee

Home/EU Fee: £220.00

Non-EU Fee: £295.00

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