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ENGL245
Reading the Victorians
ENGL245 SP
Crosslistings: WMST255
Not Currently Offered
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 19th-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-22-1999
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Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459