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Crosslistings: CHUM 307 |
This course examines the interaction between politics and literature in England over the course of the nineteenth century, focusing on issues of class, gender, and nation. The poetry, novels, and prose we will study all
sought to educate their readers,
to change their minds, and to spark political action. The course explores the ways in which these didactic goals coalesced and conflicted with other literary concerns, thereby connecting issues of politics with those of
aesthetics.
At the root of
the texts we will explore lies the desire to expose injustice, whether in the form of economic exploitation, political disenfranchisement, or parliamentary corruption. The texts perform this exposure in different ways.
Poems such as Shelley's "The Mask
of Anarchy" and Davenport's "Legitimacy Unmasked" unmask injustice through vivid imagery, allegorical narratives, and philosophical argument, while novels such as Gaskell's NORTH AND SOUTH use the geographical and class
mobility of their heroes to expose
the struggles of the working class. Morris's NEWS FROM NOWHERE and Carlyle's PAST AND PRESENT, on the other hand, expose the injustices of the contemporary world through portraits of utopian pasts and futures. We will
explore all of these techniques-and
many others-over the course of the semester.
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
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL Grading Mode: Graded
Prerequisites: NONE
Last Updated on MAR-19-2002
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459