Module overview
The period 1770-1830 was a pivotal time in the history of women’s writing in Britain. Reacting against slavery and responding to the French Revolution, women assumed a prominent role in debates that would shape the modern world, and lead to modern feminism, most famously put forward by Mary Wollstonecraft. Exploring the formal innovations women made in different genres of writing offers a way into the relation between women’s writing and articulations of modernity. Writing by Wollstonecraft, Hannah More, and Jane Austen will introduce you to the different ways women’s writing reshaped definitions of gender, sexuality, social hierarchy and race, marriage, family, and nation.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcomes
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- analyse a variety of written texts critically and with attention to their historical context
- research a problem, focus on its most salient issues, find the most relevant sources and discuss the problem in depth.
- compare the development of certain themes from different moments within the historical scope of the course
- write with clarity and sensitivity about the historical differences between the period of the course and our own
- discuss these differences in sophisticated and thoughtful ways with others who may not have studied gendered writing in this early period.
- discuss the issues raised by the course in relation not only to the material specific to it but to the wider cultural issues it raised
- define key terms in the texts and trace their evolution across the period
- distinguish between different approaches to gender and writing in this period
Syllabus
Teaching methods include
- lectures
- tutor-led seminar discussion
Learning activities include
- individual and collaborative student seminar presentation
- internet, database and library research
- email list discussion
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching methods include
- Lectures
- Seminars
- Office hours for individual feedback on essays
Learning activities include
- Office hours for individual feedback on essays
- Introducing a seminar through oral presentations
- Small group work focusing on close readings of theoretical material
Innovative or special features of this module
- Its emphasis on showing students how to apply complex theoretical material to read literary texts
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Independent Study | 114 |
| Teaching | 36 |
| Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
Textbooks
Anne K. Mellor (2000). Mothers of the Nation: Women’s Political Writing in England, 1780-1830 (ch. 1). Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Barbara Taylor and Sarah Knott, ed. (2007). Women, Gender and Enlightenment. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mary Wollstonecraft (1995). A Vindication of the Rights of Man and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, ed. Sylvana Tomeselli. Cambridge University Press.
Anna Letitia Barbauld (1792). Epistle to William Wilberforce.
Hannah Barker and Elaine Chalus, ed (1997). Gender in Eighteenth-Century England: Roles, Representations, and Responsibilities. London and New York: Longman.
Charlotte Smith (1793). The Emigrants.
Jane Austen (1998). Mansfield Park, ed. Claudia L. Johnson. New York: W.W. Norton.
Marilyn Butler (1975). Jane Austen and the War of Ideas. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Charlotte Smith (1807). Beachy Head.
Elizabeth Eger, et al, ed. (2001). Women, Writing and the Public Sphere 1700-1830 (Especially the Introduction and chapters 4, 5, 6, and 10). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Anna Letitia Barbauld (1812). Eighteen Hundred and Eleven, A Poem.
Harriet Guest (2000). Small Change: Women, Learning, Patriotism, 1750-1810. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Mary Wollstonecraft (2007). Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman’ in ‘Mary’ and ‘ The Wrongs of Woman, ed. Gary Kelly. Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics.
Vivien Jones, ed (1990). Women in the Eighteenth Century: Constructions of Femininity. London: Routledge.
Amanda Vickery (1998). The Gentleman’s Daughter: Women’s Lives in Georgian England. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Assessment
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Essay | 75% |
| Essay | 25% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Resubmit assessments | 100% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External