Questionable and Questioning Women | Dunn | TTh 11:30-1:20 |
"The Woman Question" has long been a focal point in Victorian studies, with many studies of angels in the houses, madwomen in the attics, fallen women in the streets (and rivers), and various other types of women both as subjects and as subjected. From a set of readings and visual images, this seminar will consider ways in which questionable and questioning women serve both to reify and to challenge prevailing Victorian notions of the subjected woman. Texts: John stuart Mill, On Liberty: The Subjection of Women; Dickens, Bleak House (plus selections from Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Hard Times, Little Dorrit, Great Expectations), Graddon, Lady Audley's Secret; du Maurier, Trilby. Numberous paintings.