Module manager: Professor Richard Salmon
Email: r.salmon@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2026/27
This module is not approved as an Elective
This module explores constructions of ‘the author’ across a variety of literary genres and narrative forms produced during the Victorian period (c. 1830-1900). From fictional representations of authors in novels to auto/biographical narratives of ‘literary lives’, poetic elegies in memory of famous authors, and professional manuals for aspiring authors, Victorian literature is full of writing about authors. Drawing on critical approaches from literary studies, print culture, and the history of authorship, the module explores the textual figuration of the author through different literary forms and within the wider context of the professionalization of literary work. It considers the ways in which authorship have been shaped by specific histories of class and gender, as well as the material concerns of commercial success and literary fame. Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
Through detailed study of selected primary texts across a range of genres, the module aims to investigate the ways in which authorship was represented in Victorian literature. The module will examine figures of the author within traditional literary genres, including novels, poems, and auto/biographies, as well as more specialized forms of writing about writing (literary interviews or professional guidebooks), with the aim of demonstrating the diverse ways in which stories of authorship were told within a period which witnessed the establishment of the literary profession in its modern form.
On successful completion of the module students will be able to:
LO1: Analyse a range of literary genres and narrative forms which foreground the figure of the author – in particular, forms of life-writing, fiction, and ‘non-literary’ genres (such as journalism and professional advice)
LO2: Evaluate the relationship between these different genres as textual forms of writing about writers LO3: Appraise the wider cultural and socio-economic contexts in which Victorian professional authorship developed.
SLO4: Conduct detailed critical analysis and close reading of a range of different textual forms focusing on the construction of the author
SLO5: Situate the primary texts studied on the module within a broader historical context of the development of professional authorship.
SLO6: Articulate a conceptual understanding of the ways in which the author can be constructed through literary and narrative forms.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seminar | 10 | 2 | 20 |
| Private study hours | 280 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 20 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 300 | ||
Students will receive formative feedback through the required submission of an unassessed essay plan and/or sample draft during the course of the semester, which will receive written feedback from the module leader and may be used in the development of the assessed essay. Students will also have the opportunity to receive feedback on their ideas through weekly seminar discussion (which may include feedback on oral presentations).
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Essay | 100 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 30/04/2026
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