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Decadent Literature (ENGL30016)
Undergraduate level 3Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
To learn more, visit 2023 Course and subject delivery.
About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
- Timetable(opens in new window)
Contact information
Semester 1
Overview
Availability | Semester 1 |
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Fees | Look up fees |
This subject examines decadence as a textual, historical, sexual and cultural formation, across a range of literary texts of the 19th and early 20th centuries. A predominantly masculine mode of radical aestheticism, manifesting symptoms of cultural crisis and informed by anxieties about class, gender and sexuality, decadence elaborated such key figures of modernity as the dandy, femme fatale, fetishist and aesthete. Students will be introduced to European and British varieties of literary decadence and aestheticism; art for art's sake theories of aesthetic production; relations between lifestyle, aestheticism and commodity culture; and emergent discourses of degeneration and sexology. The subject asks students to consider how decadent aestheticism was shaped by regulatory categories of taste and vulgarity, and by cultural practices of tastemaking, lifestyling and the aestheticisation of sexuality. Students will also consider the relationship between sexual dissidence and social and cultural distinction as produced in the representative examples of decadent literature studied.
Intended learning outcomes
On successful completion of this subject, students should have:
- a first-hand acquaintance with some representative examples of decadent literature;
- an understanding of the controversies provoked by the original publication of decadent literature and later reconsiderations of it; and
- a familiarity with a range of theoretical, critical and literary-historical approaches to the cultural phenomenon of decadence.
Generic skills
At the completion of this subject, students should gain the following generic skills:
- be able to apply new research skills and critical methods to a field of inquiry;
- develop critical self-awareness and shape and strengthen persuasive arguments; and
- be able to communicate arguments and ideas effectively and articulately both in writing and to others.
Last updated: 19 March 2024
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
670-332 Decadent Literature
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 19 March 2024
Assessment
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
An essay
| Mid semester | 40% |
An essay
| During the examination period | 60% |
Hurdle requirement: This subject has a minimum requirement of (or at least) 80% attendance at tutorials, seminars, or workshops. There is an expectation that students attend lectures, in person or via online delivery. All pieces of assessment must be submitted to pass this subject. For the purposes of meeting this hurdle requirement, each submitted assessment must be complete and constitute a genuine attempt to address the requirements of the task. (Complete not less than 50% of word count). | Throughout the teaching period | N/A |
Additional details
Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 2% per working day. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked.
Last updated: 19 March 2024
Dates & times
- Semester 1
Coordinator Clara Tuite Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours Total 30 hours: a 1.5-hour lecture and a 1-hour tutorial per week. Total time commitment 170 hours Teaching period 27 February 2023 to 28 May 2023 Last self-enrol date 10 March 2023 Census date 31 March 2023 Last date to withdraw without fail 5 May 2023 Assessment period ends 23 June 2023 Semester 1 contact information
Time commitment details
170 hours
What do these dates mean
Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:
- Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
- And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
- Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.
Last updated: 19 March 2024
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
A subject reader including poetry by Charles Baudelaire and A.C. Swinburne, Oscar Wilde's Salomé and short novels by Renée Vivien and Ronald Firbank will be available.
- A rebours (Against Nature) J-K Huysmans, OUP
- The Spoils of Poynton H James, Penguin
- Wormwood: A Drama of Paris M Corelli, Broadview
- Death in Venice T Mann, Harper, Collins
- The Picture of Dorian Gray O Wilde, Penguin
- Hauntings and Other Tales V Lee, Broadview
- Subject notes
Students who have completed 106-060 Decadence or 106-060 Decadent Literature are not eligible to enrol in this subject.
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Specialisation (formal) English and Theatre Studies Specialisation (formal) English and Theatre Studies Major English and Theatre Studies Minor European Studies - Breadth options
This subject is available as breadth in the following courses:
- Bachelor of Biomedicine
- Bachelor of Commerce
- Bachelor of Design
- Bachelor of Environments
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Animation)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Film and Television)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Screenwriting)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Theatre)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Art)
- Bachelor of Music
- Bachelor of Science
- Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.
Last updated: 19 March 2024