The Beginnings of University English Extramural Study, 1885-1910

by Lawrie, Alexandra

• ISBN13: 9781137309105
• ISBN10: 1137309105
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-01-22
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The Beginnings of University English: Extramural Study, 1885-1910 draws on previously unseen archival material to explore the innovative and scholarly ways in which English literature was taught to extramural students in England during the fin de siècle. It begins by tracing the development of the subject from 1650 onwards, before looking at the impassioned debates surrounding the introduction of English as an honours degree at Oxford and Cambridge in the 1880s and '90s. The book then examines exactly how the subject was taught in various non-university settings such as novel-reading unions, the University Extension Movement, and informal literary advice columns written by Arnold Bennett for a popular Edwardian newspaper. At a time when the future of the humanities feels increasingly uncertain, this book sheds new light on the modern roots of tertiary-level English teaching.

Author Biography

Alexandra Lawrie is a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Early Developments: English Literature as a Subject of Study from the Seventeenth Century to the Nineteenth
2. 'Barbarian war-cries on every side': John Churton Collins and the Dispute over University English Studies in the fin de siècle
3. The University Extension Movement
4. 'A novel education': Richard G. Moulton's Inductive Criticism in Extramural Adult Education during the fin de siècle
5. Developing a Taste for Literature: Arnold Bennett, T. P.'s Weekly and the Edwardian Clerk
Coda: The Newbolt Report and University English Studies in the Twentieth Century
Conclusion