Mapping Diversities in Victorian Literature: The New Paper 6 SLM as Teaching-Learning Aid Dr Oindrila Ghosh Assistant Professor in English & Coordinator/Jt. Editor BDP EEG Paper 6 Netaji Subhas open University

EEG 6 ‘The Victorians’: A Broad Overview Module 1 – The Victorian Scene   Unit 1 – Society, Culture and Politics Unit 2 – Victorian Poetry Unit 3 – Victorian Prose – Fictional and Non Fictional Module 2 – Reading Victorian Poetry Unit 1 – Tennyson: Ulysses, Break, Break, Break  Unit 2 – Arnold: Dover Beach, To Marguerite Unit 3 – Browning: My Last Duchess, Porphyria’s Lover Module 3 – Reading Victorian Prose Unit 1 – Dickens: David Copperfield Unit 2 – Hardy: Far From the Madding Crowd Unit 3 – Carlyle: The Hero as Poet Module 4 – Victorian Women Writers Unit 1 – Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre Unit 2 – Elizabeth Barrett Browning: I Thought Once; Emily Bronte: No Coward Soul Unit 3 – Christina Rossetti: A Dirge; A Birthday

Objectives Enshrined in the New SLM: The Blue Print The Syllabus revision Committee and the Faculty had laid down these basic objectives for themselves while formulating the New SLM: 1) The SLM would be as learner-friendly as possible 2) It should contain a section on the history of literature , made as lucid, informative and methodical as possible--- inclusion of a colourful timeline chart at the back of the SLM being a new addition 3) Use of media and resources to cut the monotony of the black and white printed SLM 4) Inclusion of shorter texts in the SLM to encourage textual acquaintance

Objectives Enshrined in the New SLM: Its Implementations Paper 6 ‘The Victorians’ has implemented the following features: 1)A compact style of narrating the historical, social, legal and literary achievements of the age. 2) Use of colored and black and white images to acquaint the distant learner with important personages, events and art of the period 3) Generous use of ‘activity for learners’ boxes to act as summing up, and also a simulation of classroom engagement. 4) The select texts have been included and in a font which is both attractive and stands out from the monotony of the rest of the print. 5) An innovative inclusion has been the inclusion of the photographs of the important writers in the syllabus, while introducing their texts---as a means to create an awareness in the learners. 6) Extra information, which is extra-textual, but necessary for learners of literature, has been provided in long text boxes.

Some Illustrations

Allocations and Time-Management PCP session 1 Introduction to the historical, social and cultural backgrounds and Victorian Poetry PCP Session 2 Tennyson and Arnold’s Poetry---identifying similar strands in thought and Victorian intellectual traits PCP Session 3 Poetry of Robert Browning Pcp Session 4 Introduction to Victorian Non fictional prose Thomas Carlyle PCP Session 5 Introduction to Victorian Fictional Prose Charles Dickens PCP Session 6 Thomas Hardy PCP Session 7 Charlotte Bronte PCP Session 8 The Women Poets

Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd

The New SLM as Teaching-Learning Aid: The Case of Teaching Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd Module 3 Unit 2 Introducing Hardy and highlighting his singularity in the Victorian Literary Representations of Women and morality Introducing Hardy’s Wessex: With Map and Text box enclosed, highlighting the mixture of Real and Fictitious Places, drawing examples with Local Regional novelists Like Tarashankar Bandopadhyay Involve Students in narrating sections of the plot---if not then summarise it with algorithmic diagrams of characters and events Brief Mention of Background to Title, publication history, along with Victorian public tastes and how the Fanny Robin sub-plot was disliked by the initial Editor Explain the important themes with suitable examples from texts to make the session lively---asking students who have read to make own contributions

The ‘Fallen Woman’ Motif In Dickens and Hardy Emily in David Copperfield Fanny Robin in Far From the Madding Crowd Thus, highlighting the Position of women in Victorian England and hence highlighting how Hardy’s vision was unique in creating such strong, independent and memorable female characters like Bathsheba Everdene.

Drawing Learner’s attention to a World outside the Novel: Art, Illustrations, Film Adaptations

Some Suggestions 1) Showing sections of Film adaptation (1967) available on Youtube to create an indellible impact on learner. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye-arKm1Pq8 2) Encouraging Learners to read the Novel by making them read out select sections, identified by the Counsellor, in class, with inputs about voice and tone modulation. 3) Where and when ICT facilities are available at the study centres, Counsellors are requested to make use of them to add to the instructional ingredients contained in the refurbished SLM.

Thank You!