Bachelor
2023/2024
Literature of Great Britain
Type:
Elective course (Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication)
Area of studies:
Linguistics
Delivered by:
School of Foreign Languages
Where:
School of Foreign Languages
When:
1 year, 3, 4 module
Mode of studies:
offline
Open to:
students of all HSE University campuses
Instructors:
Карпова Алина Владиславовна,
Ананьева Елена Петровна,
Карпова Алина Владиславовна,
Olga A. Kolykhalova
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
3
Contact hours:
52
Course Syllabus
Abstract
Literature of Great Britain is a rigorous two-module course designed for the undergraduate students of the Foreign languages and intercultural communication programme who are interested in the development of British literature from its beginnings to the present in relation to its historical, linguistic, and cultural contexts. To fulfill the requirements of the course students need to have a good command of written and spoken English (required CEFR language proficiency level is B2). Through a wide range of selected readings in prose, poetry, and drama from the Old English period to the 21st century, this course introduces students to British literature and examines its development in the context of stylistic, cultural, historical, and linguistic changes and influences. It increases one’s understanding of literary conventions, enhances the enjoyment of various forms of literature, and encourages personal exploration and interpretation of the diversity of human experience, which British literature affords. Students will critically read and evaluate a number of assigned Key Texts (significant examples of the given period representing a diversity of British writers) as well as engage in independent reading outside of class. They will both develop skills of literary analysis and acquire knowledge of British cultural history. The course combines activities of a traditional (quizzes, discussions, etc.) and a nontraditional (debates, presentations, etc.) nature. Designed to emphasize independent thought, it also envisages various research projects conducted individually or in small groups on a wide range of topics related to its subject matter.
Learning Objectives
- To broaden one’s knowledge about the body of written works produced in the English language by the inhabitants of the British Isles from the 7th century to the present day, putting it in the larger context of the thematic concerns of the writers, as well as the specific historical events and cultural influences to which these writers responded.
- To engage with, close read, reflect upon, and respond to a range of assigned Key Texts in the three main forms (prose, poetry, and drama), noticing such features as tropes and figures of speech, structural elements, oppositions and correspondences, themes, motifs, symbols, allusions, and cultural or historical references, as well as to discuss the reception and present-day relevance of these texts.
- To hone one’s Critical Reading, Critical Thinking, and Critical Writing skills necessary for advancing clear and compelling arguments in the interpretation of a text, which in its turn will enable students to further apply the knowledge gained in professional, scholarly, and interpersonal communication in the multicultural world of today.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- To identify literary techniques used in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. To identify the pagan and Christian elements in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. To define medieval romance and apply the definition of the genre to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
- To explain the literary techniques Chaucer uses that distinguish Canterbury Tales from collections of unrelated stories. To list and define types of tales used in Canterbury Tales.
- To identify the English sonnet structure of Shakespeare’s sonnets. To analyze the use of 5 key themes in Shakespeare’s sonnets: time, poetry, beauty, love, and friendship.
- To describe the themes found in Much Ado About Nothing and specific incidents in the plot which exemplify those themes. To identify major characters.
- To describe typical Twelfth Night traditions of Elizabethan England, and examine how they pertain to the plot of Twelfth Night.
- To recount how the Puritan Revolution affected Milton’s literary career. To list the types of literature Milton wrote and provide examples. To define epic and identify the characteristics and conventions of an epic. To apply the definition of epic to Milton’s Paradise Lost.
- To define satire and apply the definition to Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” To trace the historical events that led to the writing of “A Modest Proposal.” To evaluate Swift’s use of satire in “A Modest Proposal.”
- To define and provide examples of the character type known as the Byronic hero. To compare and contrast the characteristics of Romanticism apparent in Byron’s poetry and their use in the poetry of Wordsworth and Coleridge.
- To identify elements of Modernism in T. S. Eliot’s poetry. To identify religious imagery in “East Coker” and determine its purpose.
- To be able to describe the history of the manuscript (Beowulf. S. Heaney ). The structure of the poem. The main themes and digressions. Christian elements in the poem.
- To be able to talk about John Donne’s religious background and career. The discourses of spirituality and carnality. The style, main themes, and motifs.
- To define and illustrate the use of literary devices such as anaphora, asyndeton, parallelism, and paradox in the novel’s (A Tale of Two Cities) famous opening lines. To distinguish developing characters from static characters and analyze the purpose of each. To list and provide specific examples from the text of significant themes and images.
- To define the mode of narration in Mrs. Dalloway. Stream of consciousness. The main themes and motifs. The significance of time. Existential issues. The function of allusions to and quotes from Shakespeare.
- To know the setting and spatial organization (Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant). . The allusions to King Arthur. The main symbols and motifs (the quest, the island, and the mist). The themes of memory (historical and personal), trust, and deception.
Course Contents
- Part 1. Old English literature
- Part 2. Middle English literature
- Part 3. Sixteenth-century literature
- Part 4. The Early Seventeenth-century literature
- Part 5. The Restoration and Eighteenth-century literature
- Part 6. The Romantic period
- Part 7. The Victorian period
- Part 8. British literature at the turn of the 20th century
- Part 9. British literature from the 1930s onwards
Interim Assessment
- 2023/2024 4th module0.2 * Activity + 0.2 * Activity + 0.2 * Essay + 0.2 * Report + 0.2 * Test
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- Шевченко, Л. Л. History of English Literature (from Anglo-Saxons to the Age of Reason) : учебное пособие / Л. Л. Шевченко. — Барнаул : АлтГПУ, 2015. — 198 с. — ISBN 978–5–88210–788–7. — Текст : электронный // Лань : электронно-библиотечная система. — URL: https://e.lanbook.com/book/112312 (дата обращения: 00.00.0000). — Режим доступа: для авториз. пользователей.
- Шевченко, Л. Л. History of English Literature (from Romanticism to Modern Period) : учебное пособие / Л. Л. Шевченко. — Барнаул : АлтГПУ, 2016. — 236 с. — ISBN 978–5–88210–828–0. — Текст : электронный // Лань : электронно-библиотечная система. — URL: https://e.lanbook.com/book/112313 (дата обращения: 00.00.0000). — Режим доступа: для авториз. пользователей.
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Cavanagh, D. (2014). The Edinburgh Introduction to Studying English Literature: Vol. Second edition edited by Dermot Cavanagh, Alan Gillis, Michelle Keown, James Loxley and Randall Stev. Edinburgh University Press.
- Cavanagh, D., Gillis, A., & Keown, M. (2014). The Edinburgh Introduction to Studying English Literature: Vol. 2nd ed. Edinburgh University Press.
- Mueller, J. M., & Loewenstein, D. (2002). The Cambridge History of Early Modern English Literature. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=120313
- The Cambridge History of Early Modern English Literature. (2003). Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsnar&AN=edsnar.oai.pure.rug.nl.publications.0ef2238e.ac7f.4845.92a2.6c061dff4190