text
Mrianne Preindelsberger Stokes, "Polishing Pans"
For syllabus, click here.
For course information, click here.
We will examine texts written from an array of perspectives -- by persons of color, colonial and working-class authors, sexual and religious minorities, Scottish, Irish and regional writers, and critics of the established political and social order. These will be placed in the context of the affiliations of several avant-garde movements of the period--the Spasmodics and Pre-Raphaelites, the arts and crafts movement, and modernist literature critiquing the conduct of the First World War. We will also experience examples of the painting, craftwork and music of the period relevant to our topics--e. g. ballads and song settings, paintings of rural workers and “fallen women,” and artworks influenced by Mid-eastern and Indian designs.
Graduate students will be asked to help lead class discussions, to post 6 2 page ICON postings on our readings, and to prepare a 15 page seminar paper or other equivalent final project.
Syllabus for British Literature at the Margins: 1830-1930
August 23rd M introduction; course information; recordings of working-class songs and verse, including "The Poor Cotton Weaver"
Unit on Working-Class Literature
25th W selections from Marx, "The Communist Manifesto," Das Kapital, and other writings; Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England, 1844, from Gutenberg
30th M 3 Florence Boos, introductions to Campbell and Johnston;
working-class autobiographies: Elizabeth Campbell, Ellen Johnston, Anonymous Navvy, Lucy Luck
September 1st W Mike Sanders, "The Chartist Imaginary," from The Poetry of Chartism;
working-class poems by Ellen Johnston, W. J. Linton, Samuel Laycock, Fanny Forrester, Ernest Jones, Joseph Skipsey, and anonymous (handout)
5th M Labor Day
7th W Gregory Vargo, introduction on Chartist drama; Jack Frost
First posting due Friday September 9th
M 13th Chartist fiction: Ernest Jones, "The Wrongs of Woman, part 1," Thomas Cooper, "Merrie England No More"
W 15th Elizabeth Gaskell, Ruth
M 20th Gaskell, Ruth
W 22nd -----------
Unit on Race and Imperialism
M 27th selections from Paul Gilroy, Black Britain; Peter Freyer, Staying Power. begin on Prince or Seacole
W 29th Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point"
Second posting due Friday October 1st
October 4th M The History of Mary Prince; Mary Seacole, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands [depending on what members of the class have already read: could add Robert Wedderburn, The Horrors of Slavery)
6th W criticism by Gayatri Spivak, Patrick Brantlinger, Laura Donaldson, Homi Bhabha, Franz Fanon (chosen from selections students have not already read); Mary Kingsley, Travels in West Africa, abridged edition
11th M Kingsley, Travels in West Africa
13th W background on the Indian Mutiny, Indian famines of 19th century, Flora Annie Steel, "Mussumat Kirpo's Doll"
Third posting due Friday October 15th
18th M Ronjaunee Chatterjee, Alicia Christoff, and Amy Wong, "Introduction: Undisciplining Victorian Studies," Victorian Studies 62.3 (2020), 369-91; Bankim Chandra Chatterji, Anandamath
20th W Chatterji, Anandamath; poetry by Toru Dutt
25th M Swarnakumari Ghosal, An Unfinished Song
27th W Ghosal, An Unfinished Song; William Morris, "Our Country Right or Wrong"
Fourth posting due October 29th
Unit on Sexualities, Gender Fluidity, The New Woman
November 1st The New Woman; Mona Caird, "The Morality of Marriage"; short stories by Sarah Grand, "A Fantasia," George Egerton, "Gone Under," and Charlotte Mew, "A White Night"
3rd W selections from Yopie Prins, Victorian Sappho; Sapphic poetry: Michael Field, "A Portrait," "Your Rose is Dead," "Trinity," "Embalmment"
8th M criticism by Eve Sedgwick, Judith Butler, Michel Foucault; Vernon Lee, "Prince Alberic and the Snake Lady" and "The Wicked Voice"
10th W Alfred Tennyson, "In Memoriam"
Please submit title, bibliography and abstract for your final seminar paper.
15th M Alfred Tennyson, "In Memoriam"
17th W Walter Pater, Marius the Epicurean, book 1
Fifth posting due November 19th
Thanksgiving break
29th M Gerard Manley Hopkins, "Felix Randal," "The Windhover," "Duns Scotus's Oxford," "Henry Purcell," "No Worst, There Is None," "Carrion Comfort"
December 1st W Edward Carpenter, The Intermediate Sex; selections from Toward Democracy
Sixth posting due December 3rd
6th M Oscar Wilde, "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"; A. E. Housman, "Oh Who Is That Young Sinner"
8th W Sarah Grand, The Heavenly Twins; Virginia Woolf, Orlando
Final exam: presentation of abridge version of your essays, Monday December 13th
FINAL 15 PAGE ESSAY DUE DECEMBER 17th
Course Description
8:7500: Seminar Victorian Literature
British Literature at the Margins: 1830-1930
2:30-3:45 p. m., MW, 331 English-Philosophy Building
Instructor: Florence Boos
My office is 319, 335-0434, and my personal Zoom number, 2767 2540 043. We will meet in person but in cases of necessary absence or illness, students may attend by Zoom. You should let me know in advance so that I will be sure to have opened my laptop and sent an invitation link.
Office hours: MW after class 3:45-4:30 p. m. and Tuesday and Friday afternoons by appointment.
Course texts: Several are available online, and I will provide handouts for most of our readings. You should purchase Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth, Bankin Chatterji's Anandamath, Mary Prince's The History of Mary Prince, Mary Kingsley, Travels in West Africa, Sarah Grand, The Heavenly Twins, and Virginia Woolf, Orlando.
Assignments for Course:
- Students will attend each class session and read the assignment; please make a mental note of one or two questions or topics you might like to bring up. At times a student will be assigned to lead some portion of the class session or present background information relevant to our readings.
- You will be asked to post 6 two page essays on Icon, two for each month, September-November. At least three of these should relate one or more of our texts to some aspect of our critical reading, a background source, a film representation, or the visual and musical culture of the period. For at least two of these posts, please comment on some of the observations made in the postings of your fellow students.
- In most cases the course essay should be 15 double-spaced pages; however it is possible to suggest an alternate assignment, such as two shorter essays or a creative project. If you choose the longer essay, you should meet with me to discuss its organization, and if you wish, I can comment on an earlier draft. The final exam will consist of student presentations of their essays with some class discussion.