ENGL245

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ENGL245

Reading the Victorians ENGL245 SP

Crosslistings: WMST255

Next Offered in 9899 SP

Why read the Victorians? To know more about how an industrial, urban, commercial, imperial nation imagines itself; to understand better how middle-class culture is established and comes to work all by itself; to explore the power of representations of sexual difference--the famous "separate spheres" for nineteenth-century men and women--and of the great divide which opens between "the public" and "the private." In other words, to better know "ourselves." Our primary focus will be on novels. Why ask these questions through literature? To better understand the significance of the complex pleasures of novelistic representation. To learn better to read.

MAJOR READINGS

Novels by Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte,
Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, George Eliot and others.
Selections from newspaper journalism, including Henry
Mayhew's letters on "London Labour and the London Poor."
Essays, including selections from Carlyle. Readings from
the critical literature on the Victorian novel, including
Nancy Armstrong, Mary Poovey, and Catherine Gallagher.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

One 8 page paper; one 15 page paper.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

This course will depend on class discussion and oral presentations. You must be prepared to keep up with a heavy reading load. 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. This course counts towards the department's historical knowledge requirement.

COURSE FORMAT: Discussion Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UG Credit: 1.00 Gen Ed Area & Dept: HA ENGL

Prerequisites: None

Last Updated on MAR-03-1998

About the Photo:

Charlotte Bronte

Reference:

Holtz, William, TWO TALES BY CHARLOTTE BRONTE, Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1978.

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