British
Literature
Aims
Course Description
1. To provide the learners with a brief
outline of the history of British
literature up to the first half of the 20th
century;
2. To introduce learners to the
imaginative use of English and to
help them towards an appreciation of
literary language and literature;
Course Description
Aims
3. To consolidate and extend the
learners’ knowledge and fluency
in English through interaction
with literary texts;
Aims
Course Description
4. To further develop the learners’
ability to recognize and express
emotional and moral attitudes on
a higher level than about daily
occurrences so as to facilitate their
communication with educated
native speakers;
Aims
Course Description
5. To prepare the learners for the
study of literature in English at a
higher level and to help them
develop interest in and, hopefully,
the habit of，reading
extensively.
Teaching methods
– lectures on the related historical and
cultural background
– textual study
– class discussion or presentation
– reading assignment before each
class
– group work
– individual research work for the term
paper
Textbooks
1. Wang Hong. 2000. English Literature:
Reading and Appreciation.
Guangzhou :South China Science and
Engineering University Press.
2. ---.2006.20th-century British Literature.
Wuhan: Wuhan University Press.
3. Frankenstein (provided by the teacher)
Jane Eyre
Reference Books
•
Baldick, Chris. 2000. Oxford Concise
Dictionary of Literary Terms. Shanghai:
Shanghai Foreign Language Education
Press.
• Zhang, Boxiang.1997-98. British
Literature, a Coursebook. Vol.1-3.
Wuhan: Wuhan Uni. Press.
• 张定铨，吴刚.2002.《新编简明英国文
学史》.上海：上海外语教育出版社.
Assessment
• General performance
(including term paper. Exercises, quiz,
presentation)
50%
• Final examination
50%
Term Paper Requirements
Title：Beginning of English Novel
(concise and concrete)
Research Question(s):
Why did English novel come into
being in the 18th century?/ In what
way is English novel a middle-class
literature? (i.e. the questions the
paper is supposed to answer)
Tentative Conclusion:
As British middle class became the
main stay of the society, it needed a
literature of their own to tell of their life
and express their concern, a literature
which was easy enough for them to
read, whose story and heroes were
familiar enough for their recognition,
and whose language was graceful
and content morally sound enough for
their education.
Outline
I. Historical background: Political,
economic, social status quo, in which
middle class held a predominant position
II. The need of Enlightenment/education
so that the middle class could meet its
leading role in the coming years:
purpose, means and contents of the
education
Outline
III. Major features of English novel of
the time: realist, didactic, polished
language and graceful style, etc. to
model after the classics of the
aristocrats
IV. Conclusion
(refer to tentative
answers: novel was a bourgeois
product; prediction of its future
development)
Works Cited
e.g.1. Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Remains of the Day.
London: Faber and Faber,1989.
• 姓，名. 出版年份.书名（斜体）. 出版城市：
出版社.
e.g. 2. Smith, David. “My University Days.”
College Composition. John Powell, ed. NY:
Harvard University Press, 2003.18-29. [说
明：一个以上作者：从第二个人起后面姓名不
颠倒； 主编者：姓名后加ed (s)]
Citation
e.g.1 ---“xxx”( Ishiguro 87)
用双引号；第一次原著引用加脚注。
• The following quotations of the
book will be thereafter in page
number only.
e.g. 2 ---“xxx” (89)
• [一般来说，引用原文5行及以上要另
起一段，前后缩进5个字母，除对话
外，不用双引号。]
Requirements
1.write the paper only after the proposal
oked;
2.title in size 3, bold; subtitle size 4, bold;
body size small 4;
3.1st page the proposal, followed by the
paper and Works Cited;
4.word account 1000-1500; printed out;
5. never plagiarize!!!
课程教学计划
周
次
教学内容
1
2 Intro. to the course
3 Medieval Age
4 Renaissance (1)
Introduction
5 Renaissance (2)
教学手段
作业/测试
lecture
reading
assignment
lecture and
discussion
lecture and
discussion
the same
lecture and
Drama: Shakespeare discussion
教学内容
周
次
6 Renaissance (3)
Poetry & Prose:
Sonnet 18 & “Of
Studies”
教学手段
作业/测试
discussion
National
holiday[1]
7 Revo. & Restoration: lecture and
Milton’s
discussion
Paradise Lost
8 Enlightenment (1)
Jonathan Swift
lecture and
discussion
9 Enlightenment (2)
discussion
[1].If
this week’s class should accordingly go to
Popecanceled,
& Thomas
the next week
Gray
周
次
教学内容
教学手段
10
Romanticism (1)
lecture and
William Wordsworth discussion
11
Romanticism (2)
Keats & Shelley
discussion
12
Victorian Age:
Novels and Poetry
lecture
作业/测试
13 Workshop
on Novels (1)
discussion and
presentation
14 Workshop
on Novels (2)
discussion and term paper due
by Nov.28
presentation
周次
15
16
教学内容
教学手段
20th century
Introduction
Short fiction
17
Revision
18
Final exam
作业/测试
term paper due
by December 2
discussion
Recommended Novels for Reading (British)
18th-century
•
•
Gulliver’s Travels: Jonathan Swift; social
satire/fantasy/; Part I, II, and IV
interesting; language difficulty ***.
Robinson Crusoe: Daniel Defoe; an
account of the process of the building of
the British Empire in the 18th century;
diary-like detailed description and
narration; language difficulty **.
Recommended Novels for Reading (British)
19th-century
•
Frankenstein: Mary Shelley; the 1st
science-fiction; exploring the formation of
human nature and relation between
human life and science; important literary
resource to today’s filming industry;
language difficulty **, small.
Recommended Novels for Reading (British)
19th-century
•
•
Pride and Prejudice:Jane Austen; about
women’s life (marriage) in late 18th century;
very good writing, esp. the dialogues;
language difficulty **.
David Copperfield: Charles Dickens; semiautographical; good description of child’s inner
world and the character portrait; language
Difficulty **.
Recommended Novels for Reading (British)
19th-century
•
•
Great Expectations: Charles Dickens;
about moral corruption and loss of
innocence and honesty in growing up;
the Cinderella pattern in structure;
language Dif ***; a bit too long.
Jane Eyre: Charlotte Bronte; a poor,
plain governess struggling for self-dignity
and personal happiness; language dif **.
Recommended Novels for Reading (British)
19th-century
• Wuthering Heights: Emily Bronte;
one of the best novels in the world;
a presentation of the most primitive,
natural, powerful, touching as well
as the most destructive love human
beings are capable of; language dif
**.
Recommended Novels for Reading (British)
19th-century
•
•
Silas Marner: George Eliot; a religious
fable about religion of humanity;
language dif **; small.
Tess of D’Urbervilles: Thomas Hardy;
tragic fate of a “pure” young peasant
woman at the time of capitalist invasion
into the country in the 19th-century
England; language dif ***.
Recommended Novels for Reading (British)
20th-century
• Sons and Lovers: D.H. Lawrence;
Oedipus Complex; the study of manwoman relations; language dif ***.
• The Fifth Child: Doris Lessing; about
distortion or horror of human nature/
a human-born monster; Language
dif **, small.
Homework
Reference Questions for Unit 1
1. Who were the earliest settlers of
Britton/England? What do you know about
them (home, language, belief, life style)?
2. What are the 3 conquests? What effects
they had upon the nation?
3. Ideologically what is the most significant
change in people’s spiritual life?
Homework
Reference Questions for Unit 1
4. How was the nation developed
politically or what changes were there
in the form of the social structure?
5. In terms of literature, what influence
had the French upon England?
Homework
Reference Questions for Unit 1
6. How many languages were spoken
during the French reign? How do you
understand modern English as a language?
7. What was the essence of Christian
doctrine preached at the time? Was there
any ignoble reason behind it?
Homework
Reference Questions for Unit 1
8. Why was the Middle Ages known as the Dark
Ages?
9. What was the form of literature at the time?
What features does it have?
Homework
Reference Questions for Unit 1
10. What are the 3 periods/stages of Chaucer’s
literary career?
11. In what way do we call Chaucer’s Canterbury
Tales the first work of English literature?
12. What is image of the nun? Is she favorably and
admirably or satirically portrayed? What figures of
speech are used?