ENGL 6115-01: Seminar in British Literature II

Repression and Reform: The Victorian Social Problem Novel

Dr. Margaret E. Mitchell

T 5:30-8 TLC 2237

Office: TLC 2235

Email: mmitchel@westga.edu

Website: http: //www.westga.edu/~mmitchel

Phone: 678.839.4852

Office Hours: MW 10-12, Th 2-4

And by appointment

Presentation Schedule

Course Description:

While it is sometimes used to refer to a particular group of early-Victorian texts, the phrase “social problem novel” also establishes a category of fiction that persisted until the end of the era; it captures the particularly Victorian tendency to make the novel a forum for the investigation of social conflict and competing theories of reform. This course will open with texts arising from the social unrest leading up to the first Reform Act and end with fin de siècle novels by Thomas Hardy and George Gissing. In these later novels, the social anxieties that animate the earlier works remain resonant and relevant; now, however, they are intensified by a sense of foreboding associated with the approach of modernity. These rich, complex, and conflicting novels will lead us into diverse social realms and the particular political, cultural, and economic struggles that characterize them; among the “problems” these works consider are poverty, rapid industrialization, literacy, prostitution, child labor, crime, and shifting class and gender boundaries. Keeping in mind Rosemarie Bodenheimer’s claim that narrative “evokes both social wishes and social fears and then negotiates among them, establishing fictional paths through highly charged ideological territories,” this course will examine not only the particular conflicts reflected in these texts, but the way in which each work seeks to structure and resolve them. We will examine narrative strategies for subversion and containment, investigating the ways in which competing desires for repression and reform are enacted and interrogated by the Victorian novel.

Primary texts: Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton (1848); Charles Dickens, Bleak House (1853); Charlotte Brontë, Shirley (1849); Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil (1845); George Eliot, Adam Bede(1859); Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure (1895); George Gissing, The Odd Women (1893); George Moore, Esther Waters (1894); Olive Schreiner, Story of an African Farm (1883).

Critical texts: The Cambridge Companion to the Victorian Novel. Selections from Catherine Gallagher’s The Industrial Reformation of English Fiction, Patrick Brantlinger’s Spirit of Reform, Rosemarie Bodenheimer’s The Politics of Story in Victorian Social Fiction; D. A. Miller’s The Novel and the Police.

Course Requirements

As this is a graduate class, perhaps it goes without saying that attendance and active participation are expected. Generally, one doesn’t miss grad classes. If for some reason you must miss class, make sure you contact me and stay on top of any work you miss. If you miss more than two classes, you should not expect a grade above a C unless your reasons are extremely compelling; you will need to meet with me to discuss your position in the class.

However, this won’t happen.

No lateness, no electronic disturbances.

Response papers: You will submit 5 1-2 page response essays in the course of the semester; see syllabus for the due dates for the group to which you are assigned. These must be submitted to me by email no later than 10 a.m. the day of class, as I may use them to help structure our discussions. These short essays should present an original, focused analytical reading of that week’s text in the context of critical ideas relevant to the class. They will be graded; I will drop the lowest grade. In other words, 4 will count.

Oral reports on critical texts: Each student will sign up for a week to present a brief explication of the central ideas of one of the assigned critical essays. You’ll also be expected to suggest how these ideas might usefully be applied to that week’s novel—or, on the other hand, how the novel resists such an application. Not to be confused with…

Oral presentation: You’ll be responsible for one 15-minute (7- or 8-page) thesis-driven, analytical oral presentation incorporating critical sources. This is essentially a conference paper—in other words, a formal presentation. You should talk to me beforehand about your topic and progress. (You will turn in a hard copy, with a works cited page in MLA style, immediately after your presentation.)

Research Paper: A 15-20 page critical essay on a topic you will devise. You’ll submit a 2-page prospectus beforehand. I will provide more detailed guidelines a little later in the semester.

These are long novels. In certain extreme cases, I’ve divided novels over two weeks. In general, though, you’ll read one fairly long novel for each class, in addition to critical material. It’s essential that you keep up. Furthermore, I expect to hear everyone’s voice every week. If you aren’t participating actively, I will schedule a meeting with you in order to generate strategies to get you talking.

Reading Schedule

·        Additional Required critical reading will be announced in class and posted on my website.

·        Subject to adjustment at my discretion—or whim. Any changes will be posted on website and announced in class.

Week 1

T Jan.10 Introduction.

Reading from Rosemarie Bodenheimer’s The Politics of Story in Victorian Social Fiction.

Week 2

T Jan 17 Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton

From Cambridge Companion: “Introduction,” Deirdre David; “Industrial Culture,” Joseph Childers.

Group A: 1^st response.

Week 3

T Jan 23 Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil.

From CC: “The Victorian Novel and its Readers,” Kate Flint.

Group B: 1^st response.

Week 4

T Jan 31 Charlotte Brontë, Shirley

From CC: “Gender and the Victorian Novel,” Nancy Armstrong.

Group C: 1^st response.

Week 5

T Feb. 7 Charles Dickens, Bleak House

From CC: “Dickens, Melville, and a Tale of Two Countries,” Robert Weisbuch.

Group A: 2^nd response.

Week 6

T Feb. 14 Charles Dickens, Bleak House

From CC: “Detection in the Victorian Novel,” Ronald B. Thomas.

Group B: 2^nd response.

Week 7

T Feb. 21 George Eliot, Adam Bede

From CC: “Sexuality in the Victorian Novel,” Jeff Nunokawa.

Group C: 2^nd response

Week 8

T Feb. 28 George Eliot, Adam Bede

From CC: “Sensation and the Fantastic in the Victorian Novel,” Lyn Pykett.

Group A: 3^rd response.

Group B: 3^rd response.

Th (Last day to withdraw with a W)

Week 9

T Mar. 7 Olive Schreiner, Story of an African Farm

From CC: “Race and the Victorian Novel,” Patrick Brantlinger.

Group C: 3^rd response.

Week 10

T Mar. 14 George Gissing, The Odd Women

Group A: 4^th response.

Group B: 4^th response.

Week 11

Spring Break

Week 12

T Mar. 28 George Moore, Esther Waters.

Group C: 4^th response

Group A: 5^th response.

Week 13

T Apr. 4 Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure.

Research Prospectus due.

Week 14

T Apr. 11 Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure.

From CC: “Intellectual Debate…,”John Kucich.

Group B: 5^th response.

Group C: 5^th response.

Week 15

T Apr. 18

Critical reading TBA.

Week 16

T Apr 25 Research Presentations.

Research Papers due: May 2

Graduate Course Goals

Students will, depending upon the seminar topic,

• demonstrate an enhanced familiarity with the characteristics that have traditionally distinguished literary periods, as well as a developed awareness of the social forces, historical events, and cultural interests that define such epochs; and/or
• understand and appreciate the significance of an author's/school's unique contribution to post-nineteenth-century British literature, as well as comprehend the continuities expressed by those contributions within the British literary traditions; and/or
• be conversant with the specific cultural context that gave rise to a literary movement, theme, or trope, and comprehend the manner in which the literary productions both shaped and were shaped by that context.

In addition,

• Students will recognize the implications and applications of the ideas and methods of the seminar and will reveal their understanding by demonstrating both oral and written facility in applying the seminar material to the critical analysis of literary and cultural texts.
• Students will be capable of conducting independent and meaningful course-related research and synthesizing it in the form of a correctly documented research paper prepared according to current professional standards.

Graduate Program Goals

• This course prepares students to complete successfully the comprehensive oral examination that is required for all M.A. degree candidates.
• This course provides students with literary, historical, and critical contexts related to texts on the department's required reading list.
• Oral presentations in the course strengthen students' presentation skills and prepare them further for the oral comprehensive examination which is required for the M.A. degree.
• Gaining further knowledge of texts in this area strengthens students' content area knowledge, prepares them for taking nationally recognized standardized examinations (such as the advanced GRE subject examination in English), and further prepares them for careers in teaching, writing, and business or advanced graduate-level study.