Start Date
10 October, 2024
There will be 5 fortnightly meetings on Thursday, 11am - 1pm, starting from 10 October.
Overview
In this course we shall read two of the most famous novels of the 1860s, the ‘age of sensation’. The first, Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, the most well-known novelist of the time; and the second, Lady Audley’s Secret, the book that would make Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s name. The protagonists of both novels are would-be social climbers whose stories explore the dark side of their desire. Themes of class, identity, criminality, and madness are key to these complex Victorian texts.
Syllabus
Week 1 Introduction to the novels and sensation fiction.
Great Expectations. Read to the end of chapter 13.
Week 2 Great Expectations, Read to the end of chapter 35
Week 3 Great Expectations. Read to the end.
Week 4 Lady Audley’s Secret, To the end of Chapter VII, Volume I
Week 5 Lady Audley’s Secret, Read to the end.
Please note that the ‘last date available to book’ date is only a guide. We reserve the right to close bookings earlier if courses are over- or under-subscribed. In order to avoid disappointment, please be sure enrol as soon as possible. Registrations will not be processed until the following day if received after 3pm.
Course Lecturer: Dr Shirley Jones
At Continuing Education, I currently run courses on contemporary women's writing, nineteenthcentury writing, and the thematic strand, The Monthly Novel. Previously I have also taught courses on classic authors, such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Dorothy Wordsworth. My Ph.D was a study of the Victorian writer, Margaret Oliphant. Outside of Continuing Education, I am a member of a writers' group and I run community writing workshops at the VG&M and the Lowlands centre in West Derby
Courses fees: Full fee £80/Concession £40.
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