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2023/2024

Major Writers of Literature in English

Code: 106327 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2504212 English Studies OT 3 0
2504212 English Studies OT 4 0

Contact

Name:
David Owen
Email:
david.owen@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.


Prerequisites

Major Writers of Literature in English is a subject that offers a monographic view on an author of central importance in the literature written in this language. The course for the 2023-24 academic year provides a detailed and intensive study of the life and work of Jane Austen (1775-1817).

A C2 (Proficiency) level of English as established by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment is required.

With C2, the student can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read; summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation; express themselves spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations.

The knowledge acquired in the subjects Cultural History of the British Isles and Literature of British Romanticism will be particularly relevant, in addition to other compulsory literature subjects taken throughout the degree.


Objectives and Contextualisation

This subject provides an approach to the life and work of Jane Austen, to the British literary culture of her time, and to the most relevant corpus of literary criticism about this author.

The basic aim of the course is to attain a more complete understanding of aspects of Austen's life and work, from her juvenilia to her last unfinished novel, Sanditon. The course will carry out a critical reading of her major novels (their influence on English literature; their literary roots; their technical and artistic contribution to the English novel), of her correspondence, of the critical trends surrounding the figure of the author, of the socio-cultural and historical environment prevalent during her life, and Austen's “after life” in literature, cinema, and television.


Competences

    English Studies
  • Apply scientific ethical principles to information processing.
  • Apply the methodology of analysis and critical concepts to analysing the literature, culture and history of English-speaking countries.
  • Demonstrate skills to develop professionally in the fields of linguistic applications, teaching and literary and cultural management in English.
  • Demonstrate skills to work autonomously and in teams to fulfil the planned objectives.
  • Develop arguments applicable to the fields of literature, culture and linguistics and evaluate their academic relevance.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Understand and produce written and spoken academic texts in English at advanced higher-proficient-user level (C2).
  • Use current philological methodologies to interpret literary texts in English and their cultural and historical context.
  • Use digital tools and specific documentary sources for the collection and organisation of information.
  • Use written and spoken English for academic and professional purposes, related to the study of linguistics, the philosophy of language, history, English culture and literature.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse and interpret literary texts in English from periods prior to the contemporary period.
  2. Demonstrate comprehension of specialist and non-specialist texts in English of high difficulty and interpret these critically.
  3. Develop advanced oral and written criticism in teaching, academic and cultural contexts in English.
  4. Distinguish principal ideas from secondary ideas and synthesise their contents in literary texts in English from earlier to contemporary periods.
  5. Express oneself in English orally and in writing in an academic register, using terminology appropriate to the study of the texts and contexts of English literature.
  6. In an effective manner, organise the autonomous component to learning.
  7. Incorporate ideas and concepts from published sources into work, citing and referencing appropriately.
  8. Interpret extracts from documents and texts in English representative of distinct historical periods.
  9. Locate specialised and academic information and select this according to its relevance.
  10. Plan work effectively, individually or in groups, in order to fulfil the planned objectives.
  11. Produce written and spoken academic texts at a higher-proficient-user level (C2) on the concepts and skills relevant to the study of English literary texts and contexts.
  12. Understand and reflect on literature and culture in English, situating these in their contexts and historical circumstances.
  13. Understand specialised academic texts on research into the texts and contexts of English literature.

Content

Unit 1: Introduction

Unit 2: Social and Cultural Background; Historical Context

Unit 3: Critical Approaches to Jane Austen

Unit 4: The Juvenilia

Unit 5: Lady Susan

Unit 6: "The Big Six". Austen's Major Novels 

  • Sense and Sensibility (1811). Episodes & Fragments
  • Pride and Prejudice (1813). Episodes & Fragments
  • Mansfield Park (1814). Episodes & Fragments
  • Emma (1815). Episodes & Fragments
  • Persuasion (1817). Episodes & Fragments
  • Northanger Abbey (1817). Episodes & Fragments

Unit 7: The Unfinished Works (Catharine; The Watsons; Sanditon) 

Unit 8: Austen's Legacy and Influence

 


Methodology

1 ECTS credit = 25 teaching/assessment hours > 6 credits = 150 hours.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Class Discussions 20 0.8 1, 13, 2, 4, 3, 12, 5, 8, 9, 11
Lectures 30 1.2 1, 13, 2, 4, 3, 12, 5, 8, 9
Type: Supervised      
Bibliographical Search 10 0.4 1, 13, 2, 4, 12, 8, 9, 6
Essay writing 20 0.8 1, 13, 2, 4, 3, 12, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Type: Autonomous      
Personal study 20 0.8 1, 13, 2, 4, 12, 7, 8, 9, 6, 10, 11
Reading 25 1 1, 13, 2, 4, 3, 12, 8, 9, 6

Assessment

Assessment is based on the following items: 

  1. Two essays (2 x 45%) = 90%
  2. Attendance and participation in class debates = 10% 
  • Definitive dates for each of the above exercises will be published at the start of the course.
  • On carrying out each assessment activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
  • All exercises are COMPULSORY 

Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than two thirds of the assessment items.

Reassessment conditions

  • Students whose final average mark of the two exams is between 3,5 and 4,9 are eligible for re-assessment.
  • The specific re-assessment activity will be confirmed by the lecturer. 
  • The only pass mark awarded in re-assessment is a 5.
  • In case students cannot take the exam on the date set up by the teacher for justified medical reasons, a different date can be agreed on with the lecturer.
  • Reassessment is available ONLY to students who have failed the initial assessment; it is NOT available to students who have passed but wish to improve their final grade.

Plagiarism

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject. 

Irregularities refer, for instance, to copying in an exam, copying from sources without indiacting authorship, or a misuse of AI such aspresenting work as original that has been generated by an AI tool or programme. These evaluation activities will not be re-assessed.

Single Assessment 

Students who opt for this will be required to take the following assessment, which will be scheduled on a single day:  

  1. Exam 1 (Austen's Major Novels) (45%)
  2. Exam 2 (Austen's Unfinished Novels and/or the Juvenilia) (45%)
  3. Class attendance and participation (10%)

The same re-assessment method as continuous assessment will be used.

Procedure for Reviewing Grades 

On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

 

 

 


Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Attendance and Participation in Class Discussions 10% 5 0.2 1, 13, 2, 4, 3, 12, 5, 7, 8, 9, 6, 10, 11
Essay 1 45% 10 0.4 1, 13, 2, 4, 3, 12, 5, 7, 8, 9, 6, 10, 11
Essay 2 45% 10 0.4 1, 13, 2, 4, 3, 12, 5, 7, 8, 9, 6, 10, 11

Bibliography

Jane Austen: Literary Works

[The Major Novels]

Austen, Jane. Emma. Edited by John Mullan. Oxford: Oxford World's Classics, 2022 

———.  Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sanditon. Edited by Kathryn Sutherland. Oxford: Oxford World's Classics, 2021 

———.  Mansfield Park. Edited by James Kingley. Oxford: Oxford World's Classics, 2008. 

———.  Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon. Edited by John Davie and James Kingley. Oxford: Oxford World's Classics, 2008. 

———. Persuasion. Edited by James Kingley. Oxford: Oxford World's Classics, 2008. 

———. Pride and Prejudice. Edited by James Kingley. Oxford: Oxford World's Classics, 2019. 

———. Sense and Sensibility. Edited by John Mullan. Oxford: Oxford World's Classics, 2019.

[Juvenilia and Later Unpublished Works]

Austen, Jane. Juvenilia. Edited by Peter Sabor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

———. Later Manuscripts. Edited by Janet Todd and Linda Bree. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 

———. Teenage Writings. Edited by Kathryn Sutherland and Freya Johnston. Oxford: Oxford World's Classics, 2017.

[Personal Letters]

Austen, Jane. Selected Letters. Edited by Vivien Jones. Oxford: Oxford World's Classics, 2019. 

 

Digital editions of Austen’s major novels (and other works, including the letters) are freely available at https://www.gutenberg.org 

Digital versions of Austen’s novels, juvenilia, letters and other related publications are freely available at https://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janeinfo.html#janetoc  

 

Jane Austen: Select Biographies and Critical Studies

Austen-Leigh, James Edward. A Memoir of Jane Austen. Edited by Kathryn Sutherland. Oxford: Oxford World's Classics, 2008. 

Harman, Claire: How Jane Austen Conquered the World. Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 2009. 

Kirkham, Margaret: Jane Austen, Feminism and Fiction (Second ed.). London: Athlone/Continuum, 2000.

Shields, Carol. Jane Austen. London: Phoenix, 2001.

Spence, Jon. Becoming Jane Austen: A Life. London and New York: Hambledon and London, 2003.

Tomalin, Claire. Jane Austen: A Life. (Revised & Updated Edition). London: Penguin, 2000.

Butler, Marilyn. Jane Austen and the War of Ideas. (1987 edition with a revised introduction). Oxford, UK: Oxford UP, 1987.

Copeland, Edward and McMaster, Juliet (Eds). The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 1997.

Gard, Roger. Jane Austen’s Novels: The Art of Clarity. New Haven and London:Yale UP, 1992.          

Tanner, Tony. Jane Austen. Hampshire & London: Macmillan Education LTD,1986.

 

Historical Context (History, Society, Politics, Religion and Literary Traditions)

Copeland, Edward.“Money”. The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. Copeland, Edward, and McMaster, Juliet (Eds). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 1997.

———. Women Writing about Money. Women’s Fiction in England, 1790-1820. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 1995

Grundy, Isobel. “Jane Austen and Literary Traditions”. The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. Copeland, Edward and McMaster, Juliet (Eds). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 1997.

Kelly, Garry. English Fiction of the Romantic Period, 1789-1830. London & New York: Longman, 1989.

———. “Religion and Politics”. The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. Copeland, Edward, and McMaster, Juliet (Eds). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 1997.

———. “Romantic Fiction”. Cambridge Companion to British Romanticism. Stuart Curran (Ed). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 1993.

Pool, Daniel. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist—The Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England. New York:   Simon and Schuster, 1993.

Roberts, Warren: Jane Austen and the French Revolution. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1979.  

Sales, Roger. Jane Austen and Representations of Regency England. London and New York: Routledge, 1994.

 


Software

Moodle/UAB Virtual Campus