English (ENGL) 395

The Nineteenth-Century English Novel (Revision 5)

Status:

Open

Delivery mode:

Individualized study online

Credits:

Areas of study:

Arts or Humanities

Prerequisites:

ENGL 211 and ENGL 212, or equivalent first year English course(s).

Course start date:

If you are a:

Non-funded student: register by the 10th of the month, start on the 1st of the next.
Funded student: please check the next enrolment deadline and course start date.

Precluded:

None

Challenge:

ENGL 395 is not available for challenge.

Faculty:

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Overview

This course introduces the student to some of the major English novels of the nineteenth century. Starting with Pride and Prejudice (1813), it moves chronologically through the century, examining the development of fiction through such representative works as Frankenstein (1818), Jane Eyre (1847), Wuthering Heights (1847), Vanity Fair (1847–48), Bleak House (1853), North and South (1855), Barchester Towers (1857), Middlemarch (1874), Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891), and The Way of All Flesh (1903). This survey covers various types of fiction from the novel of manners, the Gothic romance, and the historical romance, to satiric, comic, and tragic novels.

Note: Since this is a senior course, we expect students to have good reading and writing skills as well as the basic critical tools and knowledge of literary forms and techniques that are acquired in an introductory university English literature course like Athabasca University's English 211 and 212. Students who do not have the recommended credits in an introductory English literature course may experience significant difficulty with the essay assignments and examinations.

Evaluation

To receive credit for ENGL 395, you must complete and submit all assignments and write the final exam. To pass, you must achieve a composite course grade of at least D (50 percent) on all assignments and the final exam, and achieve an overall grade of at least D (50 percent) for the course.

Activity	Weight
Assignment 1: Three (3) Context Reviews	10%
Assignment 2: Oral Midterm	10%
Assignment 3: Essay of Comparison and Contrast	20%
Assignment 4: Research Essay	30%
Final Exam	30%
Total	100%

The final examination for this course must be taken online with an AU-approved exam invigilator at an approved invigilation centre. It is your responsibility to ensure your chosen invigilation centre can accommodate online exams. For a list of invigilators who can accommodate online exams, visit the Exam Invigilation Network.

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.

Materials

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813). Broadview, 2002. (Print)

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818). Broadview, 2012. (Print)

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847). Broadview, 1999. (Print)

Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (1847). WW Norton, 2003. (Print)

William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair (1847-48). WW Norton, 1994. (Print)

Charles Dickens, Bleak House (1853). WW Norton, 1977. (Print)

Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South (1855). WW Norton, 2005. (Print)

Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers (1857). Oxford UP, 2014. (Print)

George Eliot, Middlemarch (1874). WW Norton, 2000. (Print)

Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891). Broadview, 2007. (Print)

Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh (1903). Penguin, 1986. (Print)

Other materials

All other materials will be available online.

Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized study counterparts.

Opened in Revision 5, November 8, 2019

Updated July 15, 2021

View previous revision