course policies

Required Books

• The Longman Anthology of British Literature, ed. David Damrosch. Vol. 2. New York: Longman, 2003. 3rd edition
• Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. London: Oxford UP, 2004
• Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New York: Broadview, 2007
• Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. London: Oxford UP, 2006

Please make sure to always bring the text we’re discussing to class. You will also need to access this course website frequently to retrieve additional documents and assigments.

Course Description

This course will provide a survey of British literature, dating roughly from the French Revolution to the end of World War I. As a survey course, you might be inclined to think, English 3210 will study authors and their works in very general terms, moving so quickly that you will only be able to glean the most basic facts about the subjects under study.  “Survey,” however, implies much more than a broad perspective; it also means to “explore the unknown” (as in geologic surveys, for example) and, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, its primary definition refers to “the act of viewing, examining, or inspecting in detail.”

English 3210 will therefore aim at teaching you to look closely at these works, even as we move quickly.  It will also encourage you to approach those poems, fictional pieces, or works you may know as if you are, in fact, on a geologic survey, searching for the unknown.  This is not to suggest that we wish you to somehow leave aside your own interests, background, and knowledge; what we hope instead is that you leave your presuppositions behind, or better still, that you reflect on how and why you arrived at those presuppositions in the first place. John Keats may have lived a reclusive life during his long illness, but he wrote poetry erotic enough to make even Danielle Steele blush. 

The only definition of survey that will NOT inform this course is “commanding position,” which suggests authority and thus implies that by semester’s end, you will have commanded a mastery over these authors and works.  Instead, we hope that English 3210 will leave you with the sense that you have been carefully introduced to this material, and hopefully, appreciate much of it.

Course Goals

1. to introduce you to works from the Romantic era, Victorian age, and the Twentieth Century in their historical, literary, and national contexts
2. to establish aesthetic, thematic, and social similarities and differences among these works
3. to train you to read closely and analytically
4. to become familiar with some of the most current theoretical approaches to literature
5. to investigate six subjects, and their literary representations, particularly closely: 1) rural vs. urban life 2) the role of the artist 3) concepts of the imagination 4) masculinity and femininity 5) war  6) the present’s relation to the past

Course Format

This course will include lectures, though students should note first and foremost that it will run mainly as an open discussion. We hope everyone in this class will participate in class discussion; to this end, we will provide a set of discussion questions for each class. Please come to class with one or two observations, questions, etc., which you’ve jotted down ahead of time, perhaps in response to the discussion questions.  Recording observations ahead of time will be especially helpful for those students who are less comfortable speaking up in class, to make sure you’re contributing at least once every meeting or so. If you consider yourself terminally shy, please come and see us early in the semester—you’ll enjoy the course much more if you participate daily.

All course materials are posted on the website. You are responsible for retrieving this information and printing it out yourself.

Course Assignments

In addition to brief, in-class writing exercises, there will be two in-class exams in this course: a midterm and a final. Two times during the semester, you will also hand in a 3pp. response to a discussion question. These will be due BEFORE the work is covered in class (for further information on these responses, as well as on the exams for the course, see the assignments page). You must turn in both of these responses by Friday, November 21. 

Course Requirements

• 3 exams (15% each = 45%)
• 2 short essays, 3pp. each (15% each = 30%)
• Class Participation (25%)

Attendance

PLEASE SHOW UP ON TIME OR EVEN EARLY. Attendance in this course is mandatory. Should you miss more than FIVE classes, your grade will automatically be lowered by ONE letter grade for each class missed (barring a doctor-certified illness or another type of certified emergency). Should you miss more than EIGHT classes, you will automatically fail the course.

Participation

This class will conduct itself primarily as a discussion rather than a lecture. I will often lecture for 10-20 minute periods, but the bulk of our time will be spent in discussion, and the topics of our discussion will be determined as much by your intellectual interests as our own. This means that you should expect class periods to be intense and fun, a place to test out your own ideas about what we are reading. Students who do not participate in our discussions will most likely see their final grade go down; the students who end up carrying much of the burden of discussion will probably see their hard work reflected in their grade as well.

The course readings are divided into three major periods: the Romantic Period, the Victorian Age, and the Twentieth Century. More specifically, readings have been organized according to selected authors and topics.