*Note: This course is intended as a British Literature survey course that provides students with a comprehensive introduction to the period from 1789-­1922. It familiarizes students with the common scholarly divisions of the period—Romanticism, Victorian literature, and Modernism—but also works to complicate these divisions, allowing students to see the ways the debates within each movement and how authors both borrow from and rebel against each other. Pedagogically, I aim, however, to match this focus on breadth with a focus on teaching students the close reading skills that they need to engage more deeply with particular texts. The assignment structure of this course is thus designed with both goals in mind, and consists of both a final exam and smaller paper projects. Rebels with a Cause Literature and Social Change in 19th-­century British Literature Professor Khristina Gonzalez Class Schedule Professor Email Office Hours Course Description: In one of his most often-­‐cited quotes, William Wordsworth claimed that all good poetry was characterized by the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” Wordsworth’s words here exemplify one answer to a long-­‐standing debate about the purpose of literature: should poems, novels, and plays strive to faithfully reflect the world—complete with its social and political concerns—or should it aim to express the personal, private emotions of the artist? In this course, we will consider how British authors of the 19th-­‐century grappled with this fundamental question. The years between 1789 and 1922 are generally considered by scholars to encompass three distinct movements in English literary history: Romanticism, the Victorian Period, and Modernism. Broadly speaking, each of these movements has been understood to respond to the question of literary purpose in a certain manner—a manner that distinguishes that particular movement from others. For instance, while we traditionally associate Romanticism with the poetic “outpouring” of authorial emotions, we associate the Victorian period with the realist novel—the literary attempt to faithfully represent the world and the mind. Likewise, Modernism has long been characterized as a departure from the realist project, a movement that is committed to the subjective mind of the artist rather than any objective reality. But are these characterizations accurate? Are these movements indeed as internally coherent as they might seem? And how can we understand the relationship between these literary movements? This course will provide you with an overview of British literature from the long 19th century while also familiarizing you with the historical and cultural contexts from which this literature emerged. Organized into three sections (Romanticism, the Victorian Period, and Modernism), this course will allow you to see how and why the different literary movements of the 19th-­‐century developed, give you an understanding of how these movements have been traditionally understood by scholars, and expose you to the literature generally considered “representative” of these three movements. Moreover, by reading these texts in conversation with one another, and by considering lesser-­‐read works by both canonical and non-­‐canonical authors alike, we will also explore the ways that these apparently unified “movements” were actually contested and contradictory sites of cultural production. We will see how the authors within these periods both borrowed from and rebelled against one another—and the cultural norms of the period. By reading across the 19th-­‐century, we will gain a “macro view” of the literary development during the century. As such, we can achieve a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between these movements, the complex intellectual and artistic traffic that occurred in and through 19th-­‐century British literature. Course Methodology Our approach to the literature of the 19th-­‐century will be both formal and historical. We will consider the ways that the texts engage with various philosophies of artistic and literary production. At the same time, we will also consider the way that these literary texts engaged with some of the most pressing cultural developments of their contemporaneous moment: the rise and fall of the British Empire, industrialization, changing class divisions, scientific developments, and shifting norms regarding gender and sexuality. Through this dual approach, we will be able to see how artistic commitments can be shaped by historical contexts and how socio-­‐political engagement can be influenced by artistic ideals. Course Pedagogy: In this course, we have two main learning objectives. First, you will gain a broad familiarity with British literature of the long 19th century. Second, you will learn to read and analyze each texts closely, engaging deeply with its form and content. The assignment structure of the course will thus be two-­‐fold. First, in order to ensure that you have a good working knowledge of the period as a whole, there will be a final exam in which you will be asked to answer identification and short response questions as well as to write an essay. Second, you will write three essays during the semester. In the first two of these papers (3-­‐4pp), you will locate a particular problem, paradox, or complication in one course text and make an argument about how it reflects a larger political, artistic, or social concern. In the final paper (5-­‐
6pp), you will revise and extend one of your earlier papers, working with me to refine and clarify your readings and analytic claims. Required Texts: Course Pack Greenblatt, Stephen, Editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, D. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Eliot, George. The Lifted Veil. Wells, H.G. The Time Machine. Forster, E.M. Howards End. Joyce, James. Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. Grade Distribution Participation and Attendance-­‐15% Paper #1-­‐20% Paper #2-­‐20% Paper #3-­‐25% Final Exam-­‐20% Schedule of Assignments Part One: The Romantics Week One: The Spontaneous Overflow of Emotion? -­‐-­‐Abrams, M.H. The Mirror and the Lamp (excerpts) -­‐-­‐Blake, William. Songs of Innocence and Experience. Selections. -­‐-­‐Wordsworth, William. “Preface to the Lyrical Ballads.” -­‐-­‐Coleridge, Samuel and William Wordsworth. Lyrical Ballads. .Selections. Week Two: Romantic Rebellions-­Poetry and [the French] Revolution -­-­E.P. Thompson, The Romantics. (excerpts) -­‐-­‐Southey, Robert. Joan of Arc. (excerpts) -­‐-­‐Wordsworth, William. The Prelude. Selections. “Tintern Abbey.” -­‐-­‐Coleridge, Samuel. “France: An Ode,” “Fears in Solitude.” Week Three: The Artistic Identity -­‐-­‐Coleridge, Samuel. “Dejection: An Ode.” -­‐-­‐Wordsworth, William. “Intimations of Immortality.” -­‐-­‐Shelley, Percy. “Mont Blanc.” -­‐-­‐Keats, “Letters” Selections (Negative Capability). -­‐-­‐Keats, John. “Ode to a Grecian Urn,” “Ode to a Nightingale,” “When I Have Fears,” Weeks Four and Five: Romantic Victorianisms-­Self-­Creation, Myth, and Authorship -­‐-­‐Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. -­‐-­‐Byron, Lord George. “Don Juan.” (Excerpts) End Week 5 Paper #1 Due Part Two: The Victorian Period Week Six: Victorian Romanticisms -­‐-­‐Browning, Robert. “Fra Lippo Lippi.” -­‐-­‐Tennyson, Lord Alfred. “Mariana,” “The Lotus-­‐Eaters,” “Ulysses.” -­‐-­‐Rossetti, Christina. “Goblin Market.” -­‐-­‐-­‐Arnold, Matthew. “Love Among the Ruins.” Week Seven, Eight: Authoring the Self -­‐-­‐Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Week Nine: The Real Me-­Psychology and the Victorian Mind -­‐-­‐Eliot, George. The Lifted Veil. -­-­Browning, Robert. Porphyria’s Lover. Week Ten: Writing the Nation -­‐-­‐Wells, H.G. The Time Machine. -­‐-­‐Kipling, Rudyard. “The Absent-­‐Minded Beggar,” “The Islanders,” -­‐-­‐Hardy, Thomas. “Drummer Hodge,” End Week 10 Paper #2 Due Week Eleven: Modernist Victorians-­The Self as Artistic Production *Connections-­‐Week Three, Week Eight* -­‐-­‐Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Grey. Week Twelve and Thirteen: Victorian Modernisms -­‐-­‐Forster, E.M. Howards End. Week Fourteen: The National Myth Yeats, W.B. “Easter 1916,” “Leda and the Swan,” “The Second Coming.” Eliot, T.S. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Week Fifteen and Sixteen: The Modern Artist Joyce, James. Portrait of An Artist T.S. Eliot. “The Wasteland.” End Week 15 Paper #3 Due Final Exam: TBA