ENGL319 - Victorian Realism

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Academic Year 2000/2001

Victorian Realism
ENGL 319 FA

Victorian Britain is the time and place of realistic representation. Critics applaud novelists for the lifelike fidelity of their representations of contemporary life, wherein the literate public discovered recognizable cityscapes and rural scenes, and familiar characters whose lives unfold in chronological sequence as they pursue their familiar occupations. Novels are sometimes compared to photographs, a new technology of visual representation that seems to hold up a mirror to the world. Nonfictional writing declares itself to be realistic, too: writers commissioned by newspapers sent back reports on "London labor and the London poor" which in their elaborate investigative detail and evocation of character are not unlike novelistic fictions. In this course we will read Victorian novels, non-fictional essays, and 19th-century literary criticism to ask what makes a work "realistic" and will read recent theoretical and critical work on realism as well. Our project will be to study both the formal elements of realistic representation and the effects such representations have in the world.

MAJOR READINGS

Novels, essays, and letters of Thackery (VANITY FAIR), Eliot (MIDDLEMARCH), Charlotte Bronte (VILLETTE), Dickens (LITTLE DORRIT), and Trollope (THE WAY WE LIVE NOW). Selection from Mayhew, LONDON LABOR AND THE LONDON POOR. Readings from nineteenth-century critics selected in the CRITICAL HERITAGE series. Criticism and theory by Barthes, Jameson, Schor and others.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

A researched, formal oral presentation with typed notes; five 500-word essyas; a 10-page paper (2500 words)

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Nineteenth century novels are very long and take time-lots of time-to read

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL Grading Mode: Student Option

Prerequisites: NONE

SECTION 01

Instructor(s): Crosby,Christina

Times: ..T.T.. 08:30AM-09:50AM; Location: CRT285

Reserved Seats: (Total Limit: 30)

SR. major: 10 Jr. major: 10

SR. non-major: 5 Jr. non-major: 5 SO: FR:

Special Attributes:

Curricular Renewal: Speaking

Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-26-2001