History of British literature

elective

Philology

Specialisation: English and Chinese studies

1st cycle

- knowledge pertaining to history of English literature - from the Old English to late twentieth-century literature

- critical analysis of literary texts

- the ability of reading secondary literature to use it for further critical refrence

- writing short essays of literary cirticism

Year 1

Relevant materials will be uploaded to the moodle platform

- Introducing the most basic/fundamental notions closely related to the assigned literary work

- Discussion in pairs and groups

- Individual and group presentations

- research on additional materials thematically, yet indirectly related to the main text

- 30 hours of work in class

- 30 hours of individual work (students preparing themselves for classes)

- 30 hours of individual work (students preparing themselves for exams)

(ECTS points: 3)

This course is devoted to studying the most canonical texts of British literature. Students are encouraged to go through all literary periods, ranging from the Old-English era through the Middle-Ages, the English Renaissance and Restoration, the Age of Enlightenment, Romanticism, Victorianism, English and Irish modernism, up to late twentieth-century postmodern drama and fiction. Among the main objectives are: 1) to make everyone participating in this course approach literary works in an analytical way; 2) to accustom students to reading secondary literature in order to use it for further critical analysis; 3) to enable students to acquire and use skills necessary for writing short academic essays on topics related to British literary tradition; 4) to improve students’ abilities to work and communicate in groups.

This course is devoted to studying the most canonical texts of British literature. Students are encouraged to go through all literary periods, ranging from the Old-English era through the Middle-Ages, the English Renaissance and Restoration, the Age of Enlightenment, Romanticism, Victorianism, English and Irish modernism, up to late twentieth-century postmodern drama and fiction. Among the main objectives are: 1) to make everyone participating in this course approach literary works in an analytical way; 2) to accustom students to reading secondary literature in order to use it for further critical analysis; 3) to enable students to acquire and use skills necessary for writing short academic essays on topics related to British literary tradition; 4) to improve students’ abilities to work and communicate in groups.

Ashcroft, Bill and Griffiths, Gareth and Tiffin, Helen. 2002. The Empire writes back: Theory and practice in post-colonial literature. London: Routledge.

Booker, Keith M. 1994. Among the postmodernists. Orlando: University Press of Florida.

Bradbury, Malcolm. 1995. The modern British novel. London: Penguin Books.

Daiches, David. 1992. A critical history of English literature. London: Secker and Warburg.

Donoghue, Daniel. 2004. Old English literature. A short introduction. London: Blackwell Publishing.

Ford, Boris. 2000. The Pelican guide to English literature. London: The Penguin Books.

Hattaway, Michael (ed.). 2000. A companion to English Renaissance literature and culture. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.

Lipoński, Wojciech. 2012. Dzieje kultury brytyjskiej. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

Richetti, John (ed.). The Cambridge companion to the eighteenth-century novel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Tucker Herbert F. (ed.). 1999. A companion to Victorian literature and culture. Malden: Blackwell Publishers.

Watt, Ian. 1957 [2009]. The rise of the novel. Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding. Whitefish: Kessinger Publishing.

Wu, Duncan (ed.). 1998. A companion to Romanticism. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.

Zbierski, Henryk. 1988. William Shakespeare. Warszawa: Wiedza Powszechna

Sikorska, Liliana. 2007. A short history of English literature. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie.

After passing this course student:

- recognizes the main trends in British literature

- is able to analyze and interpret a literary text within a given historical context

- reads with comprehension secondary literature

- knows how to use scholary texts for literary analysis

- is able to present his/her own interpretation

- knows how to search for and use critical sources in English

- defines and uses the most fundamental terminology in the area of literary studies

The assessment methods:

5,0 - complete: knowledge, skills, personal and social competences

4,5 - very good: knowledge, skills, personal and social competences

4,0 - good: knowledge, skills, personal and social competences

3,5 - satisfactory: knowledge, skills, personal and social competences

3,0 - poor: knowledge, skills, personal and social competences

2,0 - unsatisfactory: knowledge, skills, personal and social competences