School of English
Module manager: Dr Emily Bell
Email: E.J.L.Bell@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2024/25
This module is not approved as a discovery module
Why is Charles Dickens one of the most celebrated writers in the English language? And what does it mean to read Dickens today? This module encourages students to study works from across Dickens’s career – including journalism, short fiction and poetry, alongside a selection of novels – and to consider the writer’s influences, contemporary importance, and modern reception (including the wide range of adaptations and rewritings), placing him in the context of his times but also ours.
This module’s core objective is to introduce students to a range of texts from across Dickens’s output. It aims to foster a critical understanding of a selection of the literary, cultural, political and social contexts in which Dickens was writing, giving students the opportunity to apply this understanding to analysis of his works in seminar discussion and the essay assessment. It further explores the author’s legacy, including a selection of rewritings and adaptations of his works, empowering students as part of the review assessment to consider Dickens in light of modern conversations about race, gender and literary value.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1. Identify literary, cultural, political and social contexts relevant to study of Dickens.
2. Through close and critical reading, demonstrate how Dickens engaged with these contexts and was influenced by them.
3. Evaluate adaptations, rewritings and representations of Dickens in modern media, developing and articulating their own critical analyses.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
4. Conduct independent research, engaging in good academic practice in terms of literature searching, critical engagement and referencing.
5. Analyse and evaluate primary and secondary sources, producing independent arguments and demonstrating advanced proficiency in critical thinking and writing.
6. Demonstrate cultural sensitivity and awareness, as well as some understanding of the social and commercial factors that shape the production of contemporary media.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seminar | 10 | 2 | 20 |
| Private study hours | 180 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 20 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
Weekly seminar contributions. Summative feedback on the first assessment will act as formative for the second.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Literature Review | 1000-word review Students will review an adaptation in a blog post format | 30 |
| Essay | 3000-word essay | 70 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 5/22/2024
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team