2008/09 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

ENGL32126 The Rake: Sensuality and Sexuality in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Literature

20 creditsClass Size: 40

School of English

Module manager: Dr Robert Jones
Email: r.w.jones@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2008/09

This module is not approved as an Elective

Objectives

This module has three principal learning objectives, though other issues could emerge as the module progresses:
1. To investigate Restoration and Eighteenth-century anxieties about the nature of male identity, with particular emphasis upon heterosexual identity;
2. To consider the ways in which the character of the rake is subjected to surveillance and transformation during the period studied;
3.To explore eighteenth-century debates about sexuality and the possibilities of physical pleasure.
Students would be expected to demonstrate an understanding of these issues through the submission of written work.

Learning outcomes
Students will have developed:
the ability to use written and oral communication effectively;
the capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse;
the ability to manage quantities of complex information in a structured and systematic way;
the capacity for independent thought and judgement;
critical reasoning;
research skills, including the retrieval of information, the organisation of material and the evaluation of its importance;
IT skills;
efficient time management and organisation skills;
the ability to learn independently.

Skills outcomes
Skills for effective communication, oral and written.
Capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse.
Ability to acquire quantities of complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way.
Capacity for independent thought and judgement.
Critical reasoning.
Research skills, including information retrieval skills, the organisation of material, and the evaluation of its importance.
IT skills.
Time management and organisational skills.
Independent learning.
Skills for effective communication, oral and written.
Capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse.
Ability to acquire quantities of complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way.
Capacity for independent thought and judgement.
Critical reasoning.
Research skills, including information retrieval skills, the organisation of material, and the evaluation of its importance.
IT skills.
Time management and organisational skills.
Independent learning.

Syllabus

Beginning with the Rakish comedies of the Restoration stage, the module examines how the figure of the rake is transformed during the course of the long eighteenth century. What will be of particular importance will be the ways in which the male identity was increasingly subjected to a reformist agenda that sought to rid masculinity of its more boorish and rapacious instincts and to replace them with more kindly and more sentimental attributes. Reading will include: William Wycherley, 'The Country Wife' (1674); Aphra Behn, 'The Rover' (1675); Henry Fielding, 'Tom Jones' (1749); Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 'The School for Scandal' (1777).

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Meetings	5	1.00	5.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Private study hours			185.00
Total Contact hours			15.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

Teaching will be through weekly seminars (10 x 1 hour) plus up to 5 additional hours (content to be determined by the module tutor). The 5 additional hours may include lectures, plenary sessions, film showings, or the return of unassessed/assessed essays.

Private Study: Reading, seminar preparation and essay writing

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Contribution to seminars

1st assessed essay (submitted in Week 7 of the semester)

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1700 words	33.30
Essay	2750 words	66.70
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 14/04/2010

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