2024/25 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

ENGL5851M The Brontës

30 creditsClass Size: 15

Module manager: Dr Denis Flannery
Email: d.j.m.flannery@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

Module replaces

ENGL5752M The Brontes

This module is not approved as an Elective

Module summary

This module surveys key moments in the writing career of the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne), focusing on their major novels and on the poetry of Emily Brontë. The module reads their major works in conversation with each other, focusing on questions such as their creative use of established literary modes such as lyric, ‘realism’ and Gothic. The module also reflects on ways in which questions of personhood, place, sexuality, and gender are explored in the work of the Brontës.

Objectives

The module aims:
• to introduce students to a range of major writing by the Brontë sisters.
• to invite students to consider the extent to which the Brontës’ writing explores relationships between literary forms and major thematic questions such as personhood, place, sexuality, and gender.
• to equip students with the confidence and skills to engage in acts of close, alert reading, often in dialogue with contemporary critical approaches such as close-reading, feminism, postcolonial studies, and queer theory.
• All of the above objectives will be achieved through seminar discussion, through in-class writing exercises and through the provision of two assessment times/opportunities.

Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this module, you will be able to:
1. Identify a range of important moments in the writing career of the Brontë sisters.
2. Evaluate relevant critical responses to major works by the Brontë sisters, both in recent times and at the time of those works’ publication.

Skills Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module, you will be able to:
1. Conduct independent research, gathering information from a range of sources, and engaging in good academic practice in referencing their sources.

2. Produce independent arguments demonstrating advanced proficiency in critical thinking and writing skills.
3. Show developed close-reading and writing skills.

Syllabus

Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Seminar	10	2.00	20.00
Private study hours			280.00
Total Contact hours			20.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			300.00

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Students will engage in small, informal writing tasks in seminars for which they will receive supportive feedback.
Students will receive written and in-person feedback on their first (1500-word) essay – due for submission in Week 6 of the Semester.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	Essay: 1500 words	30.00
Essay	Essay: 2500 words	70.00
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: 30/01/2024

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