English 335:
Victorian Literature
Spring 2014
Meetings: Monday & Wednesday,
2:30-3:45pm, Wilkinson 210
Professor Richard Ruppel
Office: 428 N. Glassell, 101
Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday, 10:30-11:30am, Tuesday 1-2pm, and
by appointment
Phone: (714) 997-6754 (office)
Updated May 12, 2014
Assignments
Useful
Links
Blackboard
Course Description & Objectives: Though Victorian connotes staid, conventional, and repressed to the popular imagination, the rich, lively, and often irreverent literature of the British Victorian period (1832-1900) contradicts this misperception. Our semester will be built around its greatest literary form, the novel, but we'll also study representative essays and poetry. This course involves significant reading and writing, both informal (on our discussion board) and formal (essays and essay exams). Through our reading, discussion, and writing, we'll develop a clearer understanding of the period - its tensions, enthusiasms, hopes, fears, and sometimes contradictory moral and intellectual principles.
Texts:
The Norton Anthology
of English Literature: Volume E, The Victorian Age (9th Edition)
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre (Norton Critical)
William Thackeray: Vanity Fair (Norton Critical)
Charles Dickens: Bleak House (Norton Critical)
Elizabeth Gaskell: North and South (Norton Critical) optional
Course Requirements:
Attendance: Please make every effort
to attend class. Missing more than four sessions will adversely affect
your grade, and students who miss seven or more classes will fail the course.
Communication: Whether online or in class, please be courteous and
constructive. I receive a large number of emails, so when emailing,
please identify the course (335), your last name, and the subject in the
subject line. I will respond promptly to your emails; please respond
promptly to mine.
Essays: We will discuss criteria for the essays, and I will provide an essay description with suggested topics several weeks before the due dates. These essays should be submitted in hard copy and electronically, sent directly to my email address: ruppel@chapman.edu (Please don't use the Blackboard Drop-Box.) Both essays must include citations to at least two secondary sources.
Late essays will receive reduced grades, and I will not accept papers submitted more than a week late unless you provide a convincing explanation. To pass ENG 335, you must complete both essays. If you are having difficulty completing a paper or a Blackboard post, let me know.
I will accept a revision of one of your essays, but you must schedule a conference with me to discuss that revision before you submit it. I will average the grade of the original paper and the revision.
Grades:
Participation *: 15%
**Essay 1: 20%
**Essay 2: 25%
Midterm: 15%
Final: 25%
**Students who do not submit both essays will fail the course.
*The “Participation” grade is
primarily your grade on responses to the Blackboard Discussion
assignments. Here are my criteria for evaluating your responses:
1.
The response should respond as specifically as possible to the prompt (or you
should indicate why you’re modifying the prompt).
2. The response should reveal close engagement with the work(s) under
discussion.
3. The posting should contribute to the discussion,
so later postings should not simply repeat earlier postings, and they should
reflect some engagement with earlier postings.
4. Responses should be substantive.
Computers in class: If you use a computer to
take class notes, you may use a computer in class. Computers may only be
used for class purposes. Otherwise, they should stay closed.
English Literature Program
Learning Objectives: English
335 is one of the electives you may take to fulfill the English literature
major. In the discussion board responses, formal essays, and essay
exams, you will have the opportunity to develop and demonstrate the English
Literature Program Learning Objectives listed below:
1. Skill in
critical reading, or the practice of identifying and interpreting the formal,
rhetorical, and stylistic features of a text
2. Ability
to identify and compare key literary movements and genres
3. Ability
to explain and apply significant theoretical and critical approaches in the
field of English studies
4. Skill in
writing grammatically, coherently, and persuasively
5. Skill in
finding, analyzing, and utilizing secondary sources (including the appropriate
methods of citation)
6. Skill
in crafting a compelling thesis-driven essay, with substantiating evidence
Chapman University Academic Integrity Policy:
Chapman
University is a community of scholars that emphasizes the mutual responsibility
of all members to seek knowledge honestly and in good faith. Students are
responsible for doing their own work, and academic dishonesty of any kind will
be subject to sanction by the instructor and referral to the university's
Academic Integrity Committee, which may impose additional sanctions up to and
including dismissal. (See the "Undergraduate Catalog" for the
full policy.) We will discuss the proper way to incorporate sources into
your writing as you prepare the first essay.
Chapman's Students with Disabilities Policy:
In compliance with ADA guidelines,
students who have any condition, either permanent or temporary, that might
affect their ability to perform in this class are encouraged to inform the
instructor at the beginning of the term. The University, through the Disability Services Office, will work with the
appropriate faculty member who is asked to provide the accommodations for a
student in determining what accommodations are suitable based on the
documentation and the individual student needs. The granting of any
accommodation will not be retroactive and cannot jeopardize the academic standards
or integrity of the course.
Please see me if you have ANY concerns about completing any of the requirements
of this course.
Course Outline*:
Week 1: February
3-5 – Introductions, course business, and period overview.
Week 2: February 10-12 – Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus,
John Henry Cardinal Newman, The Idea of a
University. John Stuart Mill On
Liberty, The Subjection of Women.
Week 3: February 17-19 – John Stuart Mill, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre.
Week 4: February 24-26 – Jane Eyre, Alfred Tennyson.
Week 5: March 3-5 – Tennyson.
Week 6: March 10-12 – Robert Browning; William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity
Fair.
Week 7: March 17-19 – Vanity Fair.
Spring Break!
Week 8: March 31-April 2 – John Ruskin, midterm
(April 2).
Week 9: April 7-9 – Charles Dickens, Bleak
House. [Essay 1 due, April 7. 5-7 pages.]
Week 10: April 14-16 – Charles Dickens, Bleak House.
Week 11: April 21-23 – Bleak House and Matthew Arnold.
Week 12: April 28-30 – Christina Rossetti, William Morris, Gerard Manly
Hopkins.
Week 13: May 5-7 – Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. No class May 7.
Week 14: May
12-14 – Rudyard Kipling, “The Man Who Would Be King.” Course wrap-up and preparation for
the final. [Essay 2 due, May 12. 5-7
pages.]
Week 15: Final. Monday, May 19,
8-10:30am.
*We may decide to alter this schedule. I will make any changes online and give you plenty of notice.
For
Wednesday, February 5:
Read the Introduction to the Victorian Period (1017-41). Formulate one
question and one comment or observation on the Discussion Board in Blackboard
by 11am Wednesday.
For Monday, February 10: Read the
introduction to Carlyle and the selections from his Sartor Resartus (1044-1067). Begin Jane Eyre.
For Wednesday, February 12: Read the
introduction to John Henry Cardinal Newman and the selection from The Idea of the University
(1076-86). By 11am Wednesday, formulate
one question about Sartor Resartus and one about The Idea of the University on our Discussion Board. Continue reading Jane Eyre.
For Monday, February 17: Read the introduction to John Stuart Mill
(1086-88), and the selections from On Liberty and The Subjection of
Women (1095-1115). Continue Jane Eyre, which we’ll begin
discussing February 19.
For Wednesday, February 19: Finish Jane
Eyre. By 11am Wednesday, respond to
one of the questions about Jane Eyre
in Blackboard. (I’ll post these by noon,
February 13.)
For Monday, February 24: No new assignment.
For Wednesday, February 26: Read
the introduction to the Tennyson section (1156-59), "The Lady of Shalott" (116)1, and “Ulysses” (1170). Begin enjoying Vanity Fair.
For
Monday, March 3:
Read “Tithonus” (1172) and the Cantos on pages
1186-1235 of In Memoriam.
Continue enjoying Vanity Fair.
For
Wednesday, March 5:
Read the introduction to the Robert Browning section and
"Porphyria's Lover," "Soliloquy in a Spanish Cloister"
& "My Last Duchess" (1275-83).
Continue reveling in Vanity Fair
(which we’ll begin discussing next week).
For
Monday, March 10:
Read “The Bishop Orders his Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church” (1286), “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower
Came” (1294), and “Fra Lippo Lippi” (1300). Continue luxuriating in Vanity Fair.
For
Wednesday,
March 12: Continue and, if
possible, finish Vanity Fair. By 10am Wednesday (March 12), answer one of
the following questions on the Discussion Board: 1) Why is the novel
called “Vanity Fair”? 2) Why is it
subtitled “A Novel without a Hero”? 3)
Characterize the narrator – what’s he like?
For
Monday, March 17:
No new assignment unless you haven’t finished frolicking
with Becky and her friends in Vanity Fair. In that case, finish frolicking.
For
Wednesday,
March 19: Bring ideas for
essay 1. Begin reading Bleak House.
For
Monday, March 31:
Read John Ruskin – the Introduction, from Modern Painters, and The Stones of Venice,
1335-52. Continue enjoying Bleak House.
For
Wednesday,
April 2: Midterm. Bring
one page of notes, front and back, and blank paper or a green book.
For
Monday, April 7:
Prepare to begin discussing Bleak
House.
For
Wednesday, April 9:
Respond to the Blackboard Discussion question about satire in Bleak House, due by 11am Wednesday, April
16.
For
Monday, April 14:
No new assignment.
For Monday, April 21: Read the
introduction to Matthew Arnold (1369-73) and "The Buried Life"
(1375-77), "The Scholar Gypsy” (1380-87), & "Dover Beach"
(1387-88).
For Wednesday, April 23: Read the selections from Matthew Arnold’s
“The Function of Criticism at the Present Time,” “Culture and Anarchy,” “The
Study of Poetry,” and “Literature and Science” (1404-49).
For Monday, April 28: Read the
introduction to Christina Rossetti and the poems between pages 1489-1509,
including the two “Songs,” “After Death,” “Dead before Death,” Cobwebs,” “A
Triad,” “In an Artist’s Studio,” “A Birthday,” “An Apple-Gathering,”
“Winter: My Secret,” “Up-Hill,” “Goblin
Market,” “’No, Thank You, John,’” and “Promises Like Pie-Crust.” Be prepared to read and discuss one.
For Wednesday, April 30: Read the introduction to William Morris and
his “How I Became a Socialist.” And read
the introduction to Gerard Manley Hopkins and “God’s Grandeur,” “The Starlight
Night,” “As Kingfishers Catch Fire,” “The Windhover,”
and “Pied Beauty.” Bring ideas for your
second essay.
For Monday, May 5: Read Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll
and Mr. Hyde, 1677-1719.
For Wednesday, May 7: No class (Henley
Awards).
For Monday, May 12: Read Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King, 1853-77.
·
UNC
Chapel Hill's extended definition of a poetry
explication - from the UNC Writing Center.
·
The Victorian Web: A rich collection
of pages devoted to all things Victorian, sponsored by Brown University.
·
“Victorians’ Secret” A celebration of
Victorian poems devoted to love and religion, with music and art history.
·
Representative
Poetry Online: A useful compendium of information on poetry in
English, including innumerable poems, a timeline, calendar, criticism, and
glossary.
·
Gresham
College Victorian Age lectures: Religion and Science; Art and Culture; Life and Death; Empire and Race. -
Professor Richard J. Evans.
· Poet Laureates of England.
Thomas Carlyle
· Image of Jane Welsh Carlyle.
· Duke University Carlyle Letter Project.
John Henry Cardinal Newman
John
Stuart Mill
Charlotte Brontë
·
Rachel
Pietka’s PowerPoint
on religious references in Jane Eyre.
· Elizabeth Gaskell's biography, The Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857).
· Jane Eyre: 2006 BBC 2011 trailer.
·
The story of Bluebeard,
alluded to in Jane Eyre and
referenced by Sandra Gilbert in her seminal essay on the novel in The Madwoman in the Attic (1979),
excerpted in our Norton edition of the novel.
Alfred,
Lord Tennyson
·
Loreena McKennitt’s musical version of “The Lady of
Shalott,” with images from paintings and photos
of (presumably) the UK.
·
Tennyson himself reciting “The
Charge of the Light Brigade.”
Robert Browning
· Reading of "My Last Duchess" by Julian Glover.
· “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at St. Praxed’s Church,” acted by R P Jones.
William
Makepeace Thackeray
·
The Gutenberg etext of Vanity Fair.
·
Audio
Book of Vanity Fair
·
Trailer from the Reese Witherspoon
adaptation of Vanity Fair
(2004)
Charles Dickens
·
The
Gutenberg etext of Bleak
House.
·
Audio Book of Bleak House.
·
The BBC production of Bleak
House.
·
Ralf
Fiennes reads from Bleak House (Jo’s
death scene), on Dickens’ 200 birthday.
·
New York Times column
that alludes to Bleak House as one of
the foundational texts for lawyers.
Elizabeth
Gaskell
·
Audio Book
of North and South.
John
Ruskin
·
J.
M. W. Turner’s Slave
Ship (1840)
Robert
Louis Stevenson
·
Interesting
essay in the Guardian on Jekyll and Hyde that lists popular
adaptations and summarizes various allegorical readings.
