Note: (For students admitted in 2023-24 or before, this course will be counted as an introductory course from List A after completion. Please refer to your syllabus at https://english.hku.hk/Undergraduate/Curriculum/English_Studies.)

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness…’  Using Charles Dickens’s oft-cited introduction from A Tale of Two Cities as a starting point, this survey course will examine the dichotomies and contradictions inherent in the long nineteenth century, roughly between the French Revolution (1789) to the onset of the First World War (1914). We will be looking at the historical, social and political changes Great Britain underwent during this period: wars abroad and tumults at home, the industrial revolution, the scientific revolution, religious debate, empire, class and gender issues . Within this context, we will examine various writings across genres, including the realist novel, poetry, detective fiction, sensational fiction, late Victorian drama and Gothic short stories, to name a few.  

In lectures, tutorials, and guided reading exercises (individual and group), students will learn how to study, analyse and discuss representative nineteenth-century writing, employing central literary and rhetorical terminology. Emphasis will be on interactive classroom discussions, lively debates and critical thinking in both oral and written forms. These exercises that aim to hone students’ observation and reading skills will be complemented by writing exercises where students learn to form an argument, employ critical sources and frameworks and on the whole, structure an analytical essay.  

There will be three contact hours per week in the second semester on Fridays from 2.30pm-5.30pm. Formal, interactive lectures in the first hour will be followed by presentations and group discussions in the second hour. The class will then be split into two groups and will meet in alternating weeks in the third hour for more in-depth discussion, as well as research and writing workshops. Students will also have an opportunity to participate in Moodle forums to extend their learning and share their ideas beyond the classroom. 

Students are encouraged to get hard copies of the texts or print out poetry/short stories (which will be available on Moodle) whenever possible, as laptop and screen usage will be limited during lectures and classroom discussions, unless needed for specific learning accommodations. For a head start on the reading, which is strongly recommended, please consult gutenberg.org for most of the texts below. Secondary texts will also be provided on Moodle to accompany each week’s reading. 

Primary texts may include but are not limited to:  

Charles Dickens, ‘Night Walks’ from The Uncommercial Traveller,  

Henry Mayhew, Selections from London Labour and the London Poor 

Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 

Elizabeth Gaskell, The Manchester Marriage 

Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’, ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’ 

Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest 

Henry James, The Turn of the Screw 

Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbervilles 

Selected poems by Matthew Arnold, Alfred Tennyson, Charlotte Brontë, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rosetti