Victorian Decadents, Degenerates, Goths and Global Citizens

Formerly known as Victorian Revolutions and Evolutions: Literature and Visual Culture, this module has now changed title to better reflect the variety of perspectives and ideas looked at within the module itself.

This module explores a wide range of visual and literary texts, from gothic novels to Pre-Raphaelite paintings, which provide a sense of the extraordinary historical richness of the Victorian era.

In this module, we will study a series of major Victorian texts in detail, including a novel by Charles Dickens; some poetry by Tennyson and Browning; short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson, H G Wells and Mary Braddon; as well as art and architecture. We will place the literature and art in their historical, social, political and cultural contexts. The module is organized around the following significant themes, which galvanized the Victorians, as much as they concern us today:

the uses of the past
the condition of England
the woman question
commerce and the market
nationalism, imperialism, and global travel
urban life and the environment
science, medicine and the arts
the body

The sessions will be made up of lectures and seminar discussions, in which students are expected to participate. We will examine literary, visual and non-literary texts with issues of wider social, cultural, and historical context. In seminars we will read texts - whether literary, visual, historical, philosophical, or other - critically and in detail. We will also visit the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) to explore Victorian objects, architecture and art, and to the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum to look at various forms of Victorian visual entertainment.

Module at a Glance

Module Title	Victorian Decadents, Degenerates, Goths and Global Citizens
Module Code	ISS2005
Module Convenor	Dr Corinna Wagner
Credit Value	7.5 ECTS
Scheduled Teaching	24 x 2 Hour Sessions
Total Module Hours	150 Hours
Guided Independent Study	Pre-Reading Before Arrival Preparatory readings for lectures and seminars Researching, preparing and delivering a group presentation Researching and completing two written assignments
Formative Assessment	Critical Commentary– 750 words – Oral Feedback
Summative Assessment	Written assignment – 1500 words – 60% of credit – written feedback Group Presentation – 20 minutes – 40% of credit – verbal and written feedback
Sample Pre Reading	Victorian Literature: A Sourcebook, ed. John Plunkett, Ana Parejo Vadillo, Regenia Gagnier, Angelique Richardson, Rick Rylance, Paul Young (Palgrave, 2011) *highly recommended
Sample Lecture Sessions	The Gothic: Art, Gender and Sexuality Victorian Psychologies

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Watch this clip of one of our students talking about his experience on the course

"The balance of the open-mindedness and easy going attitudes of the professors made our learning fun and exciting. The professors had very smart perspectives and were very skilled in conveying important information."

Yanda, Sebalas Maret University, Indonesia