| Academic year: | 2010-2011 |
| Course code module | FLWTLEM0170 |
| Semester: | 1st semester |
| Credits: | 6 |
| Study load (hours) | 168 |
| Theory (hours): | 30,00 |
| Practice/Exercises(hours): | 15,00 |
| Other (hours): | |
| Part-time program: | 1 |
| Instructor(s) | Dirk Van Hulle
|
| Language of instruction: | English |
| Semester exam information: | exam in the 1st semester |
| Contract restriction information: | |
1. Prerequisites
*Algemene competenties
B.A. in Language and Literature - English
*Sequentiality
None
2. Objectives (expected learning outcomes)
In this course the student develops general academic skills (critical reading, academic reporting), as well as more specific skills
- to examine the influence of Darwin's work on fiction in English;
- to gain an insight in the literary, philosophical, and historical contexts in which Darwin developed his theory of evolution;
- to discover and interpret explicit and implicit intertextual references to Darwin's works.
For more information on making the objectives operational, see Blackboard.
3. Course content
This course maps the relationship between Darwin and literature, starting from his own reading of works by Milton, Wordsworth and other poets, notably his own grandfather Erasmus Darwin. The Voyage of the Beagle, the long writing process of Darwin’s The Origin of Species and the social context will be analysed before we discuss his theory of evolution and its influence on fiction in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. The way writers deal with degeneration, overpopulation, eugenics and other issues will be analysed by means of poems and novel by authors such as Samuel Butler, Robert Louis Stevenson, Alfred Lord Tennyson, H. G. Wells, Thomas Hardy, Joseph Conrad, Aldous Huxley, James Joyce, Kurt Vonnegut and Ian McEwan.
4. Teaching method
Direct contact: LecturesSeminars (possible question and answer sessions)
Personal work: Assignments - individualAssignments - in groupPaper - individualPortfolio
5. Assessment method
Written assignment: Without oral presentation
Portfolio: With oral presentation
Presentation
6. Compulsory reading – study material
McEwan, Ian. Enduring Love [1997]. London: Vintage, 1998.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde [1886]. London: Penguin Classics, 2003.
Van Hulle, Dirk. Darwins kladjes. Nijmegen: Vantilt, 2010.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Galápagos [1985]. London: Flamingo, 1994.
Wells, H. G. The Time Machine [1895] (with an introduction by Marina Warner.
London: Penguin Classics, 2005.
7. Recommended reading - study material
Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species [1859] (edited with an introduction by J. W. Burrow). London: Penguin Classics, 1985.
Darwin, Charles. The Voyage of the Beagle.
Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man.
8. Tutoring
A document with guidelines and suggestions on how to write a research paper is available on Blackboard.
For problems and questions relating to the course, please contact your professor at dirk.vanhulle@ua.ac.be.