English 4145W: Victorian Literature
Dr. Margaret E. Mitchell
Fall 2008 MW 3:30-4:45 Hum 206
Office: TLC 2235
Email: mmitchel@westga.edu
Website: http: //www.westga.edu/~mmitchel
Phone: 678.839.4852
Office Hours: MW 10-12; T 1-4; by appt.
*Guidelines for Honors essay on OliverTwist
Course Description
This course will consider Victorian literature as a response to the social, political, and cultural ideals and anxieties that marked nineteenth-century Britain. Surveying fiction and poetry as well as some non-fiction, from the “social problem novel” of the “hungry forties” to the mid-century sensation novel and fin-de-sičcle aestheticism, we will explore these texts as literary responses to Victorian concerns about class boundaries, definitions of gender, crime, science, and empire, just to name a few. We will examine not only the cultural wishes and fears reflected in Victorian literature, but the ways in which each work seeks to structure and resolve them.
Required Texts
Mary Barton, Elizabeth Gaskell (Penguin Classics); Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë (Oxford World Classics); New Grub Street, George Gissing (Penguin Classics); Lady Audley’s Secret, Mary Elizabeth Braddon (Oxford World Classics); Selected Poems of Robert Browning (Penguin Classics); Goblin Market and other poems, Christina Rossetti (Penguin Classics).
A website you will find useful: http://www.victorianweb.org/
Requirements
This course requires a considerable amount of reading—the Victorians weren’t especially interested in brevity—and it is essential that you keep up. Most weeks, your main reading will be due on Monday, and you should expect a quick quiz (sometimes very short answer, sometimes with a brief writing component) followed by discussion of the text. I’ll expect you to be ready to bring specific passages to the attention of the class in order to focus and deepen our discussions. Under the assumption that everyone will have done this preparation, I may call upon you at any time. Because participation counts toward your grade, you should make a point of speaking at least once during each class. For Wednesday, you will have a brief writing (or thinking) assignment related to the week’s reading; I will post this assignment each week after Monday’s class. Sometimes I’ll also provide a SHORT supplementary reading—whether it’s a relevant nonfictional Victorian text or an excerpt from a work of criticism.
Each student will give one ≈10 minute oral presentation in the course of the semester; the purpose of these will be to help illuminate the historical and cultural context of the literary works we’ll be reading—to explore the relationship between text and context. Detailed guidelines will be provided. You will also write two critical essays. The first will be 5 pages, and you’ll receive a list of possible topics—as well as detailed guidelines—in advance; the second will be an 8-10 page research-based paper for which you will devise you own topic, working within certain guidelines. Drafts are required, not optional, along with any workshops or process-based writing exercises associated with each paper; failure to complete them will lower your classwork/homework grade.
You may elect to substantially revise your first essay, in which case I will average the two grades. If you choose to rewrite, you must schedule an appointment to discuss your essay with me.
Policies:
Your active presence is essential to the success of the class. Quizzes and in-class exercises cannot be made up regardless of the reason for your absence unless we have made arrangements in advance. For this reason, absences are likely to affect your grade. Long papers will drop a third of a letter grade for each day they are late (from a B to a B-, for instance)—including weekends. Papers will be accepted only in class; please don’t email them to me or leave them in my mailbox unless you’re specifically instructed to. (If for some reason I do not receive your paper, whether you have sent it as an attachment or put it in my mailbox, it is your responsibility to provide a hard copy immediately. Make sure you always save your work. ) If you do miss class, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed and arrange to obtain handouts or assignments. If you miss 6 classes (in other words, 3 entire weeks!), you will not pass. (If you have truly extraordinary circumstances documented by the university, I will consider exceptions.)
Please come to class on time; lateness may affect your ability to complete quizzes or in-class work within the amount of time allowed. Please turn off cell phones and other potential sources of electronic disturbance before you enter class and remove them from your desk or your person. If such a device does go off during class, I will mark you late! (One person—the first offender of the semester—will simply receive a warning, and that should be considered a warning for everyone. I include myself in this, naturally).
Assignments and information relevant to the class will be posted regularly on my website (NOT on Web CT). It is your responsibility to check this. If you are unsure about an assignment or deadline, it is your responsibility to contact me in order to clarify.
I check my email regularly; this is always a good way to contact me. Please note that, for legal and confidentiality reasons, I am not supposed to read or respond to emails from any non-westga accounts. Make sure to use your My Westga account when you write to me.
If you have special needs of which I should be aware, please meet with me as soon as possible to discuss satisfactory arrangements.
I expect you to preserve an atmosphere of courtesy, respect, and intellectual maturity in the classroom, to take your own work and that of the other students seriously. Very little is less respectful than napping: if you fall asleep, you will receive one warning; the second time you will be asked to leave. Your grades for class work and participation will suffer accordingly.
Academic Honesty:
Presenting the language or ideas of someone else as your own constitutes plagiarism--whether your source is a friend, a relative, or a critic; whether the uncredited material is a phrase, a paragraph, or an entire paper; whether it is a formal or an informal assignment. Plagiarism will result in a failing grade for the class, and may have consequences at the university level. If you are ever concerned about what constitutes plagiarism, please consult me. You may also see the English Department website for more details.
http://www.westga.edu/%7Eengdept/Plagiarism/index.html
Grading*
Reading quizzes, participation: 20%
Short in- or out-of class assignments: 10%
Oral Presentation: 20%
Essay #1: 20%
Research Paper: 30%
*Reading quizzes and short assignments will be graded on a scale of 1-10. Your oral presentation will be graded based on the quality of your research, the level of analysis, and the effectiveness of your presentation. Essays will be graded according to the departmental rubric for upper-level courses (see the department website for a detailed breakdown).
Schedule*
Week 1
Mon Aug 18 Introduction.
Wed Aug 20 Mary Barton, Elizabeth Gaskell. Chapters 1-6 (p. 73)
Week 2
Mon Aug 25 Mary Barton to 232 (through chap 20)
Wed Aug 27
Week 3
Mon Sept 1 Labor Day—No Class
Wed Sept 3 Finish Mary Barton.
Presentations: Pauline, Philemon.
Week 4
Mon Sept 8 Mary Barton, conclusion. Presentation: Savannah. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë. To 95 (vol 1 chap X)
Wed Sept 10 Assign Essay #1
Week 5
Mon Sept 15 Wuthering Heights to 201 (vol. 2 chap VII) Presentations: Denise, Sarah.
Wed Sept 17 Writing Workshop
Week 6
Mon Sept 22 FinishWuthering Heights. Presentations: David, Colleen.
Wed Sept 24 Writing Workshop
Week 7
Mon Sept 29 Christina Rossetti, selected poems. Presentation: Alix.
Rossetti selection: "Goblin Market" (5), "Winter: My Secret" (41), "No, Thank You, John" (44), "Mirage" (49), "Song" (52), "The Poor Ghost" (114), "A Royal Princess" (143), "Life and Death" (149), "A Fisher Wife" (317), "The Dead Bride" (633), "Cobwebs" (772). I encourage you to read the introduction to the volume, as well--especially those of you who are presenting.
Wed Oct 1 Essay #1 due.
Week 8
Mon Oct 6 Lady Audley’s Secret, Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Vol. I (to 151)
Wed Oct 8 Last day to withdraw with a grade of W
[Oct. 9-10: fall break]
Week 9
Mon Oct 13 Lady Audley’s Secret Vol. II (306)
Wed Oct 15
Week 10
Mon Oct 20 Lady Audley’s Secret Finish (vol. III) Presentations: Stephanie U., Shawna.
Wed Oct 22 Presentations: Devin, Torri, Jeanelle.
Week 11
Mon Oct 27 New Grub Street, George Gissing 35-150 (through chap. 8)
Wed Oct 29 Research paper guidelines provided.
Week 12
Mon Nov 3 New Grub Street to 281 (through chap. 18)
Wed Nov 5 cont’d.
Week 13
Mon Nov 10 New Grub Street to 419 (through chap. 27)
Wed Nov 12 Paper proposal due.
Week 14
Mon Nov17New Grub Street Finish. Presentations: Kellyn, Jordan.
Wed Nov 19 Robert Browning, selected poems. ("Porphyria's Lover," 17; "My Last Duchess," 25; "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," 93; "Andrea del Sarto," 115.
Week 15
Mon Nov 24 Rough Draft Workshop.
Wed Nov 26 No class--Thanksgiving
Week 16
Mon Dec 1 Browning, continued. Presentations: Lauren, Stephanie W., Shawna.
Wed Dec 3 Last day: conclusion, discussion of projects.
Research papers due Wed. Dec. 10
*This schedule is subject to adjustment or alteration. Changes will be announced in class and online.
Course Goals
Program Goals