2025/2026
Ключевые тексты литературы Великобритании
Статус:
Дисциплина общефакультетского пула
Кто читает:
Школа филологических наук
Где читается:
Факультет гуманитарных наук
Когда читается:
3 модуль
Охват аудитории:
для всех кампусов НИУ ВШЭ
Язык:
английский
Кредиты:
3
Контактные часы:
36
Course Syllabus
Abstract
This rigorous single-module course is designed for undergraduate students specializing in Arts and Humanities who are interested in the history of British literature from its beginnings to the present day. Through a carefully selected range of readings spanning the Old English period to the twenty-first century, the course introduces students to major literary works and movements in British literature and examines their evolution in relation to stylistic, cultural, historical, and linguistic contexts. The course aims to develop students’ understanding of literary conventions, genres, and critical approaches, while fostering informed and independent interpretation of literary texts. Students will critically read and evaluate a number of assigned key texts – significant literary works representative of each period and reflecting the diversity of British literary traditions – thereby strengthening their skills of literary analysis and gaining insight into British cultural and intellectual history. Designed to encourage independent thinking and academic inquiry, the course includes individual and small-group research projects and/or writing assignments on a wide range of topics related to British literature. Pre-requisites: to fulfill the requirements of the course students need to have a good command of written and spoken English; the required CEFR language proficiency level is from upper-intermediate (B2) to advanced (C1).
Learning Objectives
- To broaden students’ knowledge about the body of written works produced in the English language by the inhabitants of the British Isles from the seventh century to the present day, and to situate these works within the broader context of the writers’ thematic concerns as well as the historical events and cultural influences to which these writers responded.
- To develop students’ proficiency in reading, analyzing, and interpreting a range of assigned Key Texts in the original from historical and contextual perspectives, noticing such features as tropes and figures of speech, structural elements, thematic patterns, motifs, symbols, allusions, and cultural or historical references, as well as discussing the reception and present-day relevance of these texts.
- To hone students’ analytical and argumentative skills, enabling them to formulate clear, coherent, and well-supported interpretations of literary texts both orally and in writing.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Students demonstrate knowledge of the main periods into which British literature is traditionally divided, including their major authors, literary forms, and genres, as well as familiarity with the content and significance of a range of Key Texts.
- Applying the fundamental technique of close reading, students identify and analyze literary devices and formal features, including common tropes and figures of speech, and explain how authors’ choices of form, structure, and language contribute to meaning.
- Students read and analyze British literary texts in the original, producing informed, independent interpretations backed up by relevant and precise textual evidence, which supports their analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
- Students situate literary texts within their historical and cultural contexts, discussing their critical reception, enduring significance, and present-day relevance, while demonstrating awareness of cultural diversity.
- Students formulate and communicate arguable claims about the assigned Key Texts as well as suggested further reading both orally and in writing, participating actively in individual and small-group discussions, responding constructively to others’ interpretations, and employing appropriate critical terminology and methods introduced in the course.
Course Contents
- Week 1. Old English literature
- Week 2. Middle English literature
- Week 3. English poetry and drama in the sixteenth century
- Week 4. British literature in the seventeenth century
- Week 5. The Enlightenment (Neoclassical period)
- Week 6. Romanticism and the major Romantic poets
- Week 7. The Victorian period
- Week 8. British literature at the turn of the twentieth century
- Week 9. British literature from the late 1920s onwards
Assessment Elements
- Project (presentation and / or writing task)Several project options (topics for group presentations and / or writing tasks, either analytical or creative) will be offered throughout the course to allow students to demonstrate their understanding of and engagement with the course material. Each student is required to participate in at least one such project during the course. Failure to complete at least one project within the specified timeframe will result in a zero for this assessment component. Projects may be completed individually or in small groups, depending on the task requirements. In the case of group work, all members of the group receive the same grade. Project topics are chosen on a “first-come, first-served” basis. Only one group may present or submit a project on a given topic on a given day. Individual students may participate in more than one project; however, the maximum number of projects per student is two, of which only one may be a presentation. All projects must be completed on time. Presentations require the student’s synchronous participation in the online seminar session and cannot be postponed. If a student is unable to attend the online session on the day of their presentation, they are responsible for arranging a replacement (another student who agrees to present on their behalf). Failure to do so will result in a zero, regardless of the reason for absence. Writing tasks must be submitted by email before the start of the class on the deadline date. Late submissions are not accepted or assessed and receive a zero. Detailed instructions, requirements, and scoring rubrics will be provided electronically for each assignment. Dishonesty of any kind will not be tolerated. Dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, inappropriate use of AI tools, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor. Students who are found to be dishonest will receive academic sanctions including but not limited to automatic zero on the work (for further information visit https://www.hse.ru/studyspravka/plagiat).
- End-of-module quizThe end-of-module quiz in Smart LMS is designed to assess the extent to which students have achieved the intended learning outcomes of the course. The quiz grade is final; retakes are not permitted. Unexcused absences or unsubstantiated claims about technical failure result in a zero for this assessment component. Dishonesty of any kind will not be tolerated. Dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, inappropriate use of AI tools, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor. Students who are found to be dishonest will receive academic sanctions including but not limited to automatic zero on the work (for further information visit https://www.hse.ru/studyspravka/plagiat).
- Oral ExaminationDuring the oral examination, the student is required to analyze an extract from a literary work studied during the seminar sessions. The purpose of the examination is to assess the student’s ability to closely read a literary text, examine a specific aspect of it, and present a coherent and well-supported argument based on the analysis, as well as to demonstrate a solid understanding of the theoretical, historical, literary, and cultural material covered in the course lectures. At the examination, the student randomly selects an examination paper ticket containing one literary extract. The extracts are provided without the author’s name. The student is expected to: a) identify the author and literary period; b) situate the text within its historical and cultural context, drawing on relevant lecture material; c) briefly outline the plot and main thematic concerns of the literary work; d) provide a detailed analysis of the extract, including its stylistic and rhetorical features, demonstrating familiarity with key concepts, terms, and approaches introduced in the course. Dishonesty of any kind will not be tolerated. Dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, inappropriate use of AI tools, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor. Students who are found to be dishonest will receive academic sanctions including but not limited to automatic zero on the work (for further information visit https://www.hse.ru/studyspravka/plagiat).
Interim Assessment
- 2025/2026 3rd module0.25 * End-of-module quiz + 0.5 * Oral Examination + 0.25 * Project (presentation and / or writing task)
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- Cavanagh, D., Gillis, A., & Keown, M. (2014). The Edinburgh Introduction to Studying English Literature: Vol. 2nd ed. Edinburgh University Press.
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Campbell, G., & Corns, T. N. (2008). John Milton : Life, Work, and Thought. Oxford: OUP Oxford. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=265014
- Day, A. (2011). Romanticism (Vol. 2nd ed). Hoboken: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=426619
- Haefele-Thomas, A. (2012). Queer Others in Victorian Gothic : Transgressing Monstrosity. University of Wales Press.
- Orchard, A. (2005). L. C. LAMBDIN and R. T. LAMBDIN (eds), A Companion to Old and Middle English Literature. Pp. xi + 433. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002 (ISBN: 0 313 31054 8). Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.D22F4086
- Patrick Parrinder. (2006). Nation and Novel : The English Novel From Its Origins to the Present Day. OUP Oxford.
- Paula R. Backscheider, & Catherine Ingrassia. (2005). A Companion to the Eighteenth-Century English Novel and Culture. Wiley-Blackwell.
- Pincombe, M. (2016). Elizabethan Humanism : Literature and Learning in the Later Sixteenth Century. London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1165350
- The Cambridge History of Early Modern English Literature. (2003). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/chol9780521631563