English Culture

Objectives

1. To know the most expressive hallmarks of the History of England.

2. To identify the central aspects of English character and of English way of life.

3. To be able to contextualise the fundamental English historic, literary, artistic, philosophical and scientific works.

4. To understand the worldwide influence of English thinkers in the several fields of knowledge.

5. To develop an in-depth study of the Victorian Age.

6. To create habits of personal inquiry and academic research.

7. To interpret key texts and images for the understanding of English Culture.

8. To relate past works and present symbolic trends.

Program

I- History of England: 1. First inhabitants. 2. The Middle Ages; 3. The Elizabethan Age, English Renaissance and the Neoclassics; 4. Romanticism.

II- The Victorian Period:

1. Natural History: 1.1 Evolutionism; 1.2. Sience and Religion; 1.3 The Science Fiction of H.G.Wells.

2. Economics: 2.1. The Industrial Revolution; 2.2. Liberalism; 2.3. The Industrial Novel (Dickens).

3. Politics: 3.1. Political parties and ideologies; 3.2. Social reform; 3.3 The political novel (Disraeli).

Teaching Methodologies

Teaching methodologies include the analysis of texts and images, the synthesis of topics taught in class or of readings that were recommended. It is expected to foster students' ability to develop habits of academic research.

Bibliography

ALTICK, Richard, Victorian People and Ideas, W.W.Norton & Co, New York, 1973

BOWLE, John, Politics and Opinion in the 19th Century, Jonathan Cape, London, 1966 (1954)

DICKENS, Charles, Hard Times, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1982 (1854)

DISRAELI, Benjamin, Sybil, or the two nations, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1981 (1845)

FURTADO, Filipe, e MALAFAIA, Teresa (org., trad. e notas), O Pensamento Vitoriano. Uma antologia de textos, Edições 70, Lisboa, 1992.

HILL, C. P., British Economic and Social History (1700.1964), Edward Arnold Publishers, Bristol, 1970

HOUGHTON, Walter, The Victorian Frame of Mind, 1830-1870, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1979

MORE, Thomas, Utopia, Penguin Classics.

TREVELYAN, G. M., A Shortened History of England, Penguin Books, London, 1987 (Longmans, Green & Co, Inc., New York, 1896)

WELLS, H. G., The Island of Doctor Moreau, Pan Books, Ltd, in association with William Heinemann, Ltd, London, 1975 (Heinemann, 1896)