- An undergraduate course
in
Arts and Humanities.
The nineteenth-century novel
- On this page
| Course facts | |
|---|---|
| About this course: | |
| Course code | AA316 |
| Credits | 60 |
| OU Level | 3 |
| SCQF level | 10 |
| FHEQ level | 6 |
| Course work includes: | |
| 6 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| Examination | |
| No residential school | |
Novels in the nineteenth century were particularly engaged with the events, circumstances, beliefs and attitudes of their time. This course encourages you to enjoy and understand them through the study of twelve texts from England (mainly), France and the USA, including works by Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Dickens, George Eliot, Flaubert and Conrad. The focus is on understanding the role of the novel in representing and exploring social and cultural change, the flexibility of the genre and how it developed aesthetically, stylistically and structurally. You’ll also engage with academic debates appropriate to study at Level 3, through the examination of contemporary and current critical approaches.
Modules at Level 3 assume that you are suitably prepared for study at this level. If you want to take a single module to satisfy your career development needs or pursue particular interests, you don’t need to start at Level 1 but you do need to have adequately prepared yourself for OU study in some other way. Check with our Student Registration & Enquiry Service to make sure that you are sufficiently prepared.
Register for the course
What you will study
Of all literary genres, the novel is probably the best adapted to the representation and exploration of social change and one of the aims of the course is to provide opportunities for investigating the ways that novels can function as evidence in enquiries about the past.
Book 1 The first half of the course introduces six nineteenth-century novels: Northanger Abbey, Jane Eyre, Dombey and Son, Middlemarch, Far From the Madding Crowd and Germinal. A brief introduction leads to a section on ‘Books and Their Readers’, which provides a context for the production and consumption of novel texts. Chapters on the novels follow in two main sections. In the first, Northanger Abbey, Jane Eyre and Dombey and Son are explored with emphasis on issues of genre, starting with close readings of the text and moving on to a wider discussion of relevant issues. A distinctive aspect of this first part is the extent to which novels are seen to construct their plots in terms of the changing nature of a more or less settled community – at times, as in Jane Eyre, in terms of the radical interference of an outsider figure. In the second part, chapters on Middlemarch, Far From the Madding Crowd and Germinal examine how fictional conventions are modified as writers engage with social and political issues, including the extent to which the novels endorse or contest the circumstances they describe, and the extent to which they seek a fictional resolution for what are ultimately political dilemmas.
Book 2 In the first part of this book we look at the problematic constructions of female identity in Madame Bovary, The Woman in White and The Portrait of a Lady. The Woman in White has a central position to allow for an interrogation of ‘realist’ methods and effects by means of the subversive and extremely popular genre of sensationalism, at the same time challenging Flaubert’s and James’s creations. The second part leads to an examination of the opportunities created by the decline of the traditional ‘three-decker’ novel form and the profound questioning of moral certainties evident towards the end of the century in Dracula, The Awakening and Heart of Darkness. As well as the study of these six novels from the European, English and American traditions, we consider such issues as the increasing self-consciousness of novelists and the changing nature of the relationship between their work and its readers and publishers.
Entry
This is a Level 3 course. Level 3 courses build on study skills and subject knowledge acquired from studies at Levels 1 and 2. They are intended only for students who have recent experience of higher education in a related subject, preferably at the OU.
Our course Approaching literature (A210) is highly recommended as preparation. It is a wide-ranging introduction to literary texts and how they are studied, essential if you have little or no experience of literary criticism. AA316 builds on Block 1 of A210 – The realist novel.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
Preparatory work
You are strongly advised to read as many of the set texts as you can before the course begins, especially as the two most substantial novels on the course, Dombey and Son and Middlemarch, form something of a ‘bulge’ in the first half of the year’s work. Whilst most of the set texts are shorter than the average nineteenth-century novel, there is a considerable amount of reading to be done.
Regulations
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the Module Regulations and the Student Regulations which are available on our Essential documents website.
If you have a disability
The study materials are available in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader and mathematical, scientific, and foreign language materials may be particularly difficult to read in this way. Written transcripts are available for the audio material. The written study material is available in comb-bound format.Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
If you have particular study requirements please tell us as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Visit our Services for disabled students website for more information, including:
- help to determine your study requirements and how to request the support that you need
- Disabled Students' Allowances (DSAs)
- using a computer for OU study
- equipment and other support services that we offer
- examination arrangements
- how to contact us for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Study materials
What's included
Course books, other printed materials, audio CDs, website.
Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness
Bram Stoker Dracula.
You will need
Audio CD player.
Computing requirements
You will need a computer with internet access to study this course as it includes online activities, which you can access using a web browser.
- If you have purchased a new desktop or laptop computer since 2007 you should have no problems completing the online activities.
- If you’ve got a netbook, tablet or other mobile computing device check our Technical requirements section.
- If you use an Apple Mac you will need OS X 10.6 or later.
You can also visit the Technical requirements section for further computing information including the details of the support we provide.
Materials to buy
Set books
- Zola, Emile Germinal, Oxford University Press £8.99 - ISBN 9780199536894
- Austen, Jane Northanger Abbey, Oxford University Press £6.99 - ISBN 9780199535545
- Regan, Stephen (ed) The Nineteenth-century Novel: A Critical Reader, Routledge £23.99 - ISBN 9780415238281
- Bronte, C Jane Eyre, Oxford University Press £6.99 - ISBN 9780199535590
- Hardy, Thomas Far from the Madding Crowd, Oxford University Press £6.99 - ISBN 9780199537013
- Flaubert, Gustave Madame Bovary, Penguin £8.99 - ISBN 9780140449129
- James, Henry The Portrait of a Lady, Oxford University Press £7.99 - ISBN 9780199217946
- Eliot, George Middlemarch, Oxford University Press £7.99 - ISBN 9780199536757
- Dickens, Charles Dombey and Son, Oxford University Press £8.99 - ISBN 9780199536283
- Collins, Wilkie The Woman in White, Oxford University Press £7.99 - ISBN 9780199535637
- Chopin, Kate The Awakening, Oxford University Press £8.99 - ISBN 9780199536948
Two additional novels are provided free as part of the module materials.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will have a tutor who will help you with the study material and mark and comment on your written work, and whom you can ask for advice and guidance. We may also be able to offer group tutorials or day schools that you are encouraged, but not obliged, to attend. Where your tutorials are held will depend on the distribution of students taking the course.
Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You will be expected to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) online through the eTMA system unless there are some difficulties which prevent you from doing so. In these circumstances, you must negotiate with your tutor to get their agreement to submit your assignment on paper.
The last TMA is double length.
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in October 2013. We expect it to be available once a year.
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
How to register
To register a place on this course return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button.
Student Reviews
“I thoroughly enjoyed this module and I would recommend it very highly. The reading workload is significant and if you ...”
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“This was a truly fascinating course even though some of the novels were not to my taste, it was good ...”
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Distance learning
The Open University is the world’s leading provider of flexible, high quality distance learning. Unlike other universities we are not campus based. You will study in a flexible way that works for you whether you’re at home, at work or on the move. As an OU student you’ll be supported throughout your studies – your tutor or study adviser will guide and advise you, offer detailed feedback on your assignments, and help with any study issues. Tuition might be in face-to-face groups, via online tutorials, or by phone.
For more information read Distance learning explained.
Undergraduate
| Course facts | |
|---|---|
| About this course: | |
| Course code | AA316 |
| Credits | 60 |
| OU Level | 3 |
| SCQF level | 10 |
| FHEQ level | 6 |
| Course work includes: | |
| 6 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| Examination | |
| No residential school | |
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