Course Overview

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. In the British empire the sun (almost) never set; industry and trade flourished; men were real men, women real angels and queen Victoria the epitome of respectability and earnestness. Some people, however, questioned the importance of being earnest. Even more criticised the price that had to be paid for prosperity and dynamics. As not only Marx and Engels pointed out, the working conditions in the factories and living conditions in industrial cities were far from satisfactory. Women, people without property or with the wrong religion were excluded from political participation. Illicit sexuality was both immensely popular and severely policed.
The aim of the lecture course is to give a survey of the most important trends in British 19th-century culture, covering developments in history, politics, literature and the arts. The discourses of progress and stability will be juxtaposed with dissenting voices undermining the norms by pointing out their flaws and paradoxes.
On the meta-level, the lecture course will also be paradoxical, combining old and new: it will be a conventional, post-COVID-19, weekly, on campus, face-to-face course with elaborate online components (the details of which will be presented and discussed in the first session). It will be credited on a pass/fail basis.

Learning Achievement

Competence

Course prerequisites

Grading Philosophy

Course schedule

17.10.2023 - 23.01.2024 + exam 30.01.2024

Course type

Online Course Requirement

BA: Assessment/requirements: passing the weekly online quizzes.

MA/MEd: Assessment/requirements: passing the weekly online quizzes plus written contributions on Moodle.

Instructor

Prof. Dr. Anette Pankratz

Other information

For course registration please send an email to anette.pankratz@rub.de.

Site for Inquiry