EN3DD: Decadence and Degeneration: Literature of the 1890s

Module code: EN3DD

Module provider: English Literature; School of Humanities

Credits: 20

Level: Level 3 (Honours)

When you'll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Dr Lucy Bending, email: l.v.bending@reading.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Dr John Schollar, email: j.w.schollar@reading.ac.uk

Additional teaching staff 1: Dr Stephen Thomson, email: s.thomson@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s): Before taking this module, you must have at least 40 credits of EN-coded modules at Part 1 (except for visiting students). (Open)

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 21 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

‘Decadence’ and ‘degeneration’ were the buzzwords of the fin de siècle (the 1880s and 1890s). This module uses these two warring concepts to navigate the heady years of the close of the nineteenth century, drawing in texts such as Stoker’s Dracula, Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde, and Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. The decadents were the British version of ‘art for art’s sake’, a movement which swept across Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century. Decadents wrote literature which rejected Victorian pieties such as religion, work and family, and instead used strange new sensuous forms to celebrate idleness, sex, disease and death. But the establishment fought back, using new scientific theories drawn from evolutionary biology, criminology and psychiatry to diagnose these people as ‘degenerates’, stigmatizing them alongside criminals, the mentally ill and the colonized. We will look at a variety of texts, literary, journalistic, scientific and medical, as well as some of the most striking visual images of the period, to understand what was at stake when ‘decadents’ were labelled ‘degenerates’, and vice versa. Topics are likely to include 1890s’ foppishness, ghost stories, Darwinian models of evolution, the emergent New Woman phenomenon, the Wilde trial, the colonization of Africa, and the portrayal of prostitution. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Apply discipline-specific practices of close reading, interpretative analysis and critical argument
2. Undertake autonomous learning, enquiry and research within the discipline of English literature, applying their mastery of relevant knowledge, skills and methods
3. Discuss and appraise published research, or equivalent advanced scholarship, within the field of English literature
4. Articulate their own and other people’s ideas concisely, accurately, and clearly

Module content

We will look at a range of texts and artworks produced in the 1880s and 90s, drawing on a wide range of genres from medical and scientific textbooks, to journalism, and to literary texts by such authors as Wilde (Picture of Dorian Gray, letter to the Home Secretary from Reading Gaol, etc), Stevenson (Jekyll and Hyde), Stoker (Dracula) and H G Wells. 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

This module will be taught through seminars and some whole-group sessions if multiple groups are running concurrently.  There will be three seminar hours a week. 

Study hours

At least 33 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

A short piece (800 words) that explores ideas that will be taken further in the assessed essay. 

Reassessment

Additional costs