CLASS MEETINGS Spring 2018
Note: This is a Moodle class. More detailed readings and assignments are available on the Moodle.
Week 1
Tues. Jan. 17 Introduction to the Course and Requirements
View Simon Schama’s History of Britain: Victoria and Her Sisters
Please view this episode if you miss the first class -- ON RESERVE in LIBRARY
Read: Jane Eyre Chapters 1-4 for Thursday
Optional background reading for essays, from Criminals, Idiots, Women and Minors (ON RESERVE in LIBRARY) Anna Brownwell Jameson's "The Milliners" and Margaret Oliphant's "The Condition of Women"; view of the governess in Harriet Martineau's "Female Industry"
Thurs. Jan. 19 Last Day to Add/Drop
Jane Eyre Chapters 1-4
Week 2 Assignment of Presentation Topics and Schedule
Tues. Jan. 24
Jane Eyre Chapter 5-15
Thurs. Jan. 26
Jane Eyre Chapter 16-26
Week 3
Tues. Jan. 31
Jane Eyre Chapters 27-33
1. Seminar: Phrenology and Victorian Racial/Cultural Theory
Background reading: Selection from Criminals, Idiots, Women, and Minors Frances Power Cobbe "What Shall We Do with Our Old Maids" and " vs. Marriage" and "Wife Torture in England"
Due Today: Send me an email of your Works Cited page in proper MLA format for your forthcoming essay. In addition to the novel itself you should be citing at least 3-4 peer-reviewed academic sources from books and periodicals available on JSTOR or PROJECT MUSE.
Thurs. Feb. 2
Jane Eyre Chapters 34-38
2. Seminar: Victorian Attitudes to Suttee and Suicide (See Victorian Web)
Week 4
Tues. Feb. 7
Great Expectations Vol. 1 Chapters 1-9
Thurs. Feb. 9
Great Expectations Vol. 1 Chapters 10-20
3. Seminar: Victorian Transportation of Convicts to Australia and the Case of George Barnwell
Week 5
Tues. Feb. 14 FIRST ESSAY DUE
Great Expectations Vol. 2 Chapters 1-15
4. Seminar: Darwin's ideas of evolution and Samuel Smiles's philosophy of Self-Help: Can a gentleman be made?
Thurs. Feb. 16
Great Expectations Vol. 2 Chapters 16-20; Vol. 3 Chapters 1-7
Background reading: Selection from Criminals, Idiots, Women, and Minors Frances Power Cobbe's essay "Criminals, Idiots, Women and Minors"
Week 6
Tues. Feb. 21
Great Expectations Volume 3 Chapters 8-20 and Appendix A: Original Ending
Thurs. Feb. 23 MID-TERM EXAM
Week 7
Tues. Feb. 28
Wilkie Collins The Moonstone Prologue and First Period
Thurs. March 2
The Moonstone The Prologue and the First Period
Friday March 3 (makeup day for April 25th)
The Moonstone First Period (cont.)
5. Seminar: Constance Kent Roadhouse Murder Case of 1860 (Broadview Appendix B) and The Major Murry/Northumberland Street Case of 1861 (Broadview Appendix C)
Week 8
Tues. March 7
The Moonstone Second Period: First and Second Narratives (Miss Clack and Matthew Bruff)
6. Seminar: Exeter Hall and the Philanthropic Movements of the mid-Victorian period
Thurs. March 9
The Moonstone Third Narrative (Franklin Blake)
Background reading: Selection from Criminals, Idiots, Women, and Minors Margaret Oliphant "The Grievances of Women" and Helen Taylor "Women and Criticism"
Week 9
Tues. March 14
The Moonstone Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Narratives and Epilogue and "A Sermon for Sepoys" (Appendix D)
Thurs. March 16
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
7. Seminar: Victorian Attitudes to Psychology -- The Science of Split Personalities (Broadview Appendix K)
Week 10
Tues. March 21
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
8. Seminar: Ideas of Degeneration and Crime and the Jack the Ripper Case
Thurs. March 23
Arthur Morrison Child of the Ago
9. Seminar: London's East End Slums in the 1890's compared to London of the 1880s
Week 11
Tues. March 28
Arthur Morrison Child of the Jago
Thurs. March 30
Arthur Morrison Child of the Jago
Week 12
SPRING BREAK April 3-7
Week 13
Tues. April 11
The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapters 1-4
Thurs. April 13
The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapters 5-10
10. Seminar: Victorian Attitudes to Homosexuality (Appendix F) including Codes and Covers in a Homophobic age: Pater, Huysman and Wildean Languor (Broadview Appendices D, E, G).
Week 14
Tues. April 18
The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapters 11-15 (See selections from Criminals, Idiots, Women, and Minors, including Eliza Lynn Linton "The Girl of the Period," "The Modern Revolt," "The Wild Women: as Politicians," The Wild Women: as Social Insurgents")
Thurs. April 20 SECOND ESSAY DUE
The Picture of Dorian Gray Chapters 16-20
Background Reading: Selection from Criminals, Idiots, Women, and Minors Mona Caird "Marriage," "A Defence of the So-called Wild Woman" Millicent Garret Fawcett "The Emancipation of Women"
Week 15
Tues. April 25 NO CLASS
Thurs. April 27
Meet at the Protestant Cemetery for field trip and Summing Up