It is the aim of this course to make students understand the development of British literature, from its very beginnings until today. A familiarity with influential authors and texts, as well as the ability to critically contextualise them, is the basis for all subsequent literary classes.After the Survey, students will be well equipped to work with British literature, as they understand connections between authors, texts, and society.

Lecture and short in-class discussions of selected example texts.

This lecture will give students an overview of British literature, from the early Middle Ages to the early 21st century. It will provide historical and social context, as well as focus on a selection of signature authors and texts for each of the eras treated.Topics discussed are:Old English and Middle English literatureTudor and Stuart literatureRestoration and Augustan literatureRomantic poetry and proseThe Age of SagesVictorian poetry and novelLate Victorian literatureThe World Wars and ModernismNon- and PostmodernismsPost-Imperial literature, Genre fiction

All texts on the reading list are taken from the Norton Anthology of English Literature, 9th edition (2012), available in our library.Students will not be expected to buy any additional material.

Written on-campus open-book exam with thematic combinations of multiple choice and open answers.Students who fail to sign up for the exam in the system beforehand cannot participate in a sitting.Sitting 1 on June 27, Sitting 2 in Week 39, Sitting 3 in Week 41 (dates TBA)

Only material discussed in class will be part of the exam. There is one combination of a MC and an OA question per lecture session, and students will be able to choose ten our of the twelve thematic sections to answer.

MC questions ask students to reproduce basic information from the sessions. OA questions require the ability to contextualise and critically reflect upon texts and authors.There are twelve question combinations, one for each of the thematic sessions, and each of them is worth a maximum of 10 points in total:Multiple choice questions have three possible answers and exactly one is correct: 4 points if the correct answer is ticked off; 0 points if answered incorrectly, more than one answer is ticked off, or the MC question is left emptyOpen answer questions require a short paragraph of max. 100 words each: they score 0 to 6 points each, depending on the quality of your answerYou must choose exactly 10 of the 12 combinations (you lose the highest scoring sections beyond 10)Points-to-Grade Key: 100 – 91 points = 1A, or First Grade 90 – 81 points = 2B, or Upper Second Grade 80 – 61 points = 3C, or Lower Second Grade 60 – 51 points = 4D, or Pass Grade 50 points and below = 5F, or Fail GradeCheating is a serious offence and will result in an automatic 5F on the exam!