A sustained piece of individual research into a Victorian topic of your own choosing. A chance to demonstrate and enhance your presentation skills, and the ability to convey ideas, reflections and arguments through oral and visual form, rather than written form.Įxtended individual research project and dissertation. A detailed analysis and assessment of a particular piece of historical evidence or a literary source. A reflective response to a question, drawing upon different sources to analyse and evaluate a specific question, with the aim of presenting a clear and well-argued viewpoint. Historiographical and documentary essays. Improve your oral and written communication, time and workload management, and other transferable skillsĪfter you leave the University, you can get help, advice and support for up to 5 years from our Careers and Employability service as you advance in your career. Improve your broader academic skills, such as the ability to analyse, assess, synthesise and evaluateĭevelop your archival and research skills, as well as data analysis and interpretation abilities Have the opportunity to gain experience in event organisation, voluntary work, management and promotion, such as for local cultural events, for example, Portsmouth DarkFest During this course, you'll:ĭevelop the skillset required to work in the heritage industry, the arts and mediaĭevelop a strong grounding for pursuing more advanced levels of academic study, including PhDs and careers in academia Get to study any topic of interest within the broad scope of the Victorian Gothic and the history of Victorian cultureīe able to base your studies around more recent Neo-Victorian re-imaginings of the nineteenth century in their research projects, exploring areas such as crime or supernatural fictions, or steampunk cultureĪs well as giving you greater expertise in the field of Victorian Gothic literature, this course also enhances your knowledge and skill in other areas.
Have opportunities to undertake research in the Charles Dickens Collection and Arthur Conan Doyle Collection (Lancelyn Green Bequest), both housed in the Portsmouth Central Library, Portsmouth
Use our Library’s wealth of online archival material including London Low Life, Victorian Popular Culture, The Old Bailey Online, The Charles Booth Archive, and the British Library Newspaper Archive
Work through 2 core content modules, focussed on the cultural tensions between Victorian anxieties (crime, poverty, slums, and degeneration) and Victorian enchantment (stage magic, spiritualism and the occult, the development of Victorian celebrity culture, the struggle of intellect to break from folkloric magic and supernatural superstition in a ‘modern’ age) You'll have the freedom and scope to pursue your own areas of interest and research via an individual research project and 15,000-word dissertation.īe taught by experts from both the history and English departments at the University of Portsmouthĭevelop your research skills, critical thinking and literary analysis The course gives you access to a wealth of online resources and digitised archival material relating to Victorian culture and draws on local literary and cultural resources, such as the Conan Doyle Collection (Lancelyn Green Bequest) in Portsmouth’s Central Library. Through a rich and fascinating range of historical, literary and folkloric texts, themes and approaches, you'll probe the darker side of the Victorian age. This MA explores not just 19th-century Gothic cultures but, more generally, the fears, wonders, and dark imagination of the Victorian era.
Why do we associate the Victorians with darkness, sin, hypocrisy and monstrosity? Why does the Gothic seem to best encapsulate how we think about and remember the Victorians? These are some of the questions you'll explore on this course. Victorian society and culture was a contradiction – an era of bold vision and technological wonders entwined with deep social fears and cultural anxieties.