The Victorian and Edwardian period was an age of confusion and profusion, of energy and anxiety. It saw the invention of populist journalism, terrorist explosions, the telegraph, the telephone, the photograph, film, the machine-gun, and the celebrity interview. In literary terms, as an unprecedented expansion of the reading public took place, the period invented: detective fiction; the literary ghost story; the school story; the boy’s book; war reportage; and the spy story. Industrialism and urbanization at home was matched by colonial wars and imperial expansion abroad. These innovations signal the onset of a thoroughly modern society. Authors sensitive to the social instability and inequality that such development brought about, such as Charles Dickens, the Bront?isters and Thomas Hardy reacted negatively or at least critically to such developments. The decline of Christian faith, with attendant fears, also marked the period: Darwin published The Origin of Species; the word ‘agnostic’ was first coined. With economic and scientific developments gathering pace, many authors also engaged with the fundamental question of how to live within such a volatile world George Eliot, in Silas Marner, looks back at a rural society just before the onset of the Victorian era and uses a fable to investigate whether the ideal society lies in the past. Many prominent poets, from Browning to Rossetti, engaged with issues of faith and doubt. Other cultural theorists and writers turned to the idealisation of the aesthetic realm, or an escape into a desirable dream realm, as in the poetry of W. B. Yeats, culminating in the art for art’s sake movement, of which Oscar Wilde is the most famous exponent. At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century, many authors seemed infected with the fin de si?e bug, brooding over the degeneration of western civilization. Some turned to romance, and fantastic modes of writing and cynical caricature to express their reactions to a quickly changing cultural landscape, exploring the tensions of the Imperial project in India, Africa, or closer to home in Ireland.
Timetable
The timetable will be available from June 1st on the internet.
Method of Instruction
Two-hour tutorial per week.
A la carte and contract teaching
More information for students who are interested in taking this course as a Contract student (with exam).
This course is not available as A la carte course.
Course objectives
This course will extend and deepen the power of students’ literary critical analysis through in-depth consideration of texts. Students will explore critical debates central to the literature of the Victorian period. The course will also aim to extend the students’ skills in the reading of narrative and the understanding of the relationship of a text to its cultural/social context. Students will be encouraged to share analytical and critical views on the texts ascribed in class discussion, including, where needed, short presentations, and will focus research skills in the writing of a final essay. This essay will be on a relevant subject of their own choice within the parameters of the course, and will further extend the students’ critical skills and their ability to produce good, clear writing. A final exam will test students’ knowledge of the literature of the period, and give them an opportunity to display their insight, their familiarity with the texts, and the range of their critical ideas.
Required reading
Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. II, gen. ed. M.H. Abrams (8th edn, 2006); referred to as Norton in the reading schedule. You could also use Volume E (The Victorian Age) of the 8th Edition of the Norton Anthology, as it is easier to carry.
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, (Penguin Classics).
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (Oxford World Classics).
George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (ed. A.S. Byatt) (Penguin Classics).
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass (ed. Hugh Haughton) (Penguin Classics).
Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbevilles (ed. Margaret R. Higonnet) (Penguin Classics).
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (published together in one volume by Penguin Classics).
Rudyard Kipling, Kim (Penguin Classics).
IMPORTANT READING NOTICE: Victorian novels are long; to make sure that you don’t fall behind in your reading during the semester, it is strongly recommended that before the start of the semester you have read the set poems by Tennyson, Jane Eyre and Great Expectations, or made a significant start on both novels (i.e. to have finished one and be well past half way with the other).
Examination
Essay(s) (50%):
Two essays of 1200 words (25% each); or, one longer essay on a comparative subject (dealing with at least two texts featured on the syllabus) of 2500 words (50%).
The first essay is due on the day of class in the week following the reading week; the second essay is due in on the Wednesday following the last teaching week of the semester (week fifteen).
Final Exam (50%):
This exam will feature questions about the literature on the syllabus. The questions are designed to allow students to formulate informative answers based on critical insight into Victorian literature and knowledge of the various important contexts gained during the tutorial discussion and individual study.
Information
Department of English, P.N. Van Eyckhof 4, room 102c. Tel. 071-5272144. English@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Blackboard/webpage
No blackboard available.
Overview
Week 1: Alfred, Lord Tennyson: “Mariana”; “The Lady of Shalott”; “The Lotos-Eaters”; “Ulysses”; “Tithonous”; “Break, Break, Break”; “Tears, Idle Tears”; “Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal”; “[The Woman’s cause is man’s]”; “The Charge of the Light Brigade”; “The Passing of Arthur”; “Crossing the Bar” [In Norton].
Week 2: Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre [Oxford World\‘s Classics].
Week 3: Robert Browning: “Porphyria’s Lover”; “Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister”; “My Last Duchess”; “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at St Praxed’s Chruch”; “A Toccata of Galuppi’s “; “Fra Lippo Lippi”; “Andrea del Sarto”; “An Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experiences of Karshish, the Arab Physician”; “Caliban upon Setebos” [In Norton].
Week 4: Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (Penguin Classics).
Week 5: Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], Alice in Wonderland/ Through the Looking-Glass [Penguin Classics].
Week 6: George Eliot The Mill on the Floss (Volume I) [Penguin Classics].
Week 7: Essay Deadline: Hand in your first essay (1200 words); or, hand in the thesis statement of your essay if you chose the 2500 word option.
Week 7: George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (Volumes II and III) [Penguin Classics].
Week 8: Christina Rossetti: “Song [When I am dead, my dearest]”; “After Death”; “Death Before Death”; “In an Artist’s Studio”; “Winter: My Secret”; “Up-Hill”; “Goblin Market”; “No, Thank You, John”; “Promises Like Pie-Crust”; “Sleeping at Last” [In Norton“].
Week 9: Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbeveilles [Penguin Classics].
Week 10: Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [In Norton].
Week 11: Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Penguin Classics).
Week 12: Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest and extract from De Profundis [In Norton].
Week 13: Rudyard Kipling, Kim [Penguin Classics].
Week 14: Essay Proof: Hand in your second essay (1200 words); or, hand in your comparative essay (2500 words).
(Week 15: Hand in your second essay definitive)