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ENG32110

Academic Year 2024/2025

Literature and Science (ENG32110)

Subject:
English
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
English, Drama & Film
Level:
3 (Degree)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Professor Fionnuala Dillane
Trimester:
Autumn
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

Nineteenth century Britain witnessed dramatic developments in all areas of the sciences. Debates about new sciences were integral to literary culture. The impact of new understandings of psychology, geology, biology, physiology, physics on the environment; on the body; on religious belief; and on the sense of selfhood for example is a key feature of writing from this period. This interdisciplinary course will examine how scientific issues were registered and interrogated across a range of literary genres (essays; novels; short stories; poems) from the 1830s-1890s and how these debates are reimagined in the 20th and 21st century in short fiction.

We will consider the use of literary devices in scientific texts and the cross-influences of scientific and literary interests. Areas of interest that will shape our discussions include: evolution and degeneration; theories of race, gender, sexuality and class; interactions of the mind and body; new understandings of illness and disease. Writers studied include George Eliot, Robert Browning, Charles Darwin, John Ruskin, Lewis Carroll, H.G. Wells and Alfred Tennyson.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

• Identify the role of key scientific debates in the works of British writers in the 19th century and beyond
• Argue with critical awareness about cultural, social, historical and literary significance of such debates for the nineteenth century and for today
• Demonstrate understanding of nineteenth-century literary and scientific culture and its role in shaping our world
• Analyse literary strategies in scientific texts in an informed way
• Demonstrate analytical, critical and writing skills including the ability to produce an essay demonstrating knowledge of key points noted above.

Indicative Module Content:

SEMINAR 1: Introduction Literature and Science? Literature or Science?: Our Terms of Debate
SEMINAR 2: Facts and Faith: Deep Time and Planetary Consciousness
SEMINAR 3: God and Nature still at strife?: Death, Mourning and The Body
SEMINAR 4: Individual and the Species: Evolution and The Stories We Tell Ourselves
SEMINAR 5: Man the Animal
SEMINAR 6: Logic, Origins and Ends: Our Need for Nonsense and Speculative Fiction
SEMINAR 7: Ways of Seeing: Perception and Fact
SEMINAR 8: Bodies, Minds, Desire and Disease: The role of the Gothic imagination
SEMINAR 9: New Worlds: Race, Dystopias and Utopias
SEMINAR 10: Conclusion and review: Environmental Consciousness



Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Seminar (or Webinar)

24
Specified Learning Activities

84
Autonomous Student Learning

92
Total

200

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Seminar style teaching based on preparation of readings in advance of class, circulation of study questions to guide reading, handouts to support reading so that our seminar is a place of focused discussion, exploration and development of ideas.

Key learning and teaching components include:
Group discussions
Guided discussions
Interrogation of critical positions based on weekly handouts or critical text (Provided in advance of class on Brightspace)
Generation of study questions (Provided in advance of Each class on Brightspace)
End of term research essay

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Short mid-term close reading (approx 1000 words) which you can submit on either week 6 or week 8 Week 6, Week 8 Graded No
25
 No
Participation in Learning Activities: Each week 2 people will be assigned to lead the class discussion by responding (in-class or online) to questions circulated in advance. Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9 Graded No
15
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): End-of-semester research-based essay (3000 words) Week 14 Graded No
60
 No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Our class discussions constitute a live feedback platform: we will refine our own thinking and approach to critical questions by hearing and attending to the views of others Online feedback on your short mid-term assignment will help to prepare you for your final essay One-on-one meetings in week 12 will provide feedback on your essay plan to help you to flourish in your final essay

Note: Most of these texts are available online. See http://www.gutenberg.org. Links are available on Brightspace
Short fiction set in the 19th century by 20th and 21st century writers (including AS Byatt and Begum Rokeya Hossein)
George Eliot's novella, The Lifted Veil (1859)
Robert Browning's dramatic monologue ‘Caliban upon Setebos’ (1864)
Lewis Carroll's children's story, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
Edward Lear's nonsense poems, from 'Book of Nonsense' (1871)
Sheridan Le Fanu's vampire short story, ‘Carmilla’ from In a Glass Darkly (1872)

Short Extracts from the following:
--Charles Darwin, from The Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871)
--Charles Lyell, form Principles of Geology (1830-33)
--Alfred Lord Tennyson, from In Memoriam (1833-50)
--John Ruskin, ‘The Storm-Cloud of the Nineteenth Century (1884)
--Edward Gosse, from Father and Son (1907)
--Laura Otis, ed. Literature and Science in the Nineteenth Century, An Anthology (2002)

Name Role
Professor Nicholas Daly Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Autumn Seminar Offering 1 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Thurs 10:00 - 11:50
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