How does one speak the unspeakable? In the nineteenth century, writers and readers often turned to ghosts, monsters, vampires and other supernatural tropes to express and explore cultural anxieties, particularly those that remained in the shadows and at the margins of dominant discourses. In this course we will read a variety of Victorian gothic and supernatural texts in the context of nineteenth century anxieties and discourses about sexual transgression, gender roles, disease, madness, spriritualism, the experience of modernity and the problem of the body. We will read a range of literary forms including novels, novellas, short stories and poetry, and both canonical and non-canonical texts, enabling us to understand the breadth of the Victorian writers' achievement in the literary field, and the way that Victorian literature both participated in and emerged from debates in other cultural discourses such as medicine, psychology, sociology and philosophy.

By the end of the course students will:

1. Be able to analyse, discuss and write critically about the use of supernatural and gothic tropes and their significance in a range of Victorian texts.
2. Be familiar with the work of a range of Victorian writers, both canonical and less well-known, and with a range of genres inlcuding the novel, short story and poetry.
3. Be able to position Victorian literature in relation to a range of contexts including Victorian anxieties about modernity, madness, sexual transgression and disease.
4. Be able to identify and discuss theoretical discourses concerning class, sexuality, gender and colonialism as these illuminate a range of Victorian texts.
5. Have developed skills in reading carefully with attention to detail and to the ways in which texts are constructed.

One 2000 word essay (40%) [LO 1, 2, 3,4 and 5]

One 2500 word essay (50%) [LO 1, 2, 3,4 and 5]

Tutorial Participation (10%) [LO 1, 2, 3,4 and 5]

There will be one lecture (1.5 hours) and one tutorial (1 hour) per week throughout the semester. There will be no tutorial in week one.

Any two 1000 level English courses.

ENGL2001 English Literature 1789-1939

Prescribed texts may include:

There will also be a reading brick on Wattle containing critical material.