In this course we will explore the broad theme of “Victorian” identity—individual, gendered, sexual, class-based, racial, national, and imperial—as it was theorized through literary production of the period. Some questions that will guide our work through the quarter include: what role did literary culture play in shaping different kinds of Victorian identities? What were some of the major trends—and corresponding shifts—in articulations of “Englishness” in the Victorian period? In what ways have we (in our current historical moment) inherited particular notions (or critiques) of identity from our Victorian precursors?

Besides our novels, we will explore work by Thomas Carlyle; Alfred, Lord Tennyson; John Stuart Mill; Matthew Arnold; Robert Browning; Christina Rossetti; Rudyard Kipling; and others. In addition to the assigned novels, we will also read poetry, possibly one play, short essays, and literary criticism. A photocopied course packet will provide additional readings. The course will rely heavily on class discussions that build close reading, critical questioning, and argument that you will further refine in a series of short papers, one mid-term paper (approximately 5 pages), and a final term paper (7-9 pages). Reading load, on average, will be 200 pages per week.

Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton, ISBN# 0393930637
Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, The Perils of Certain English Prisoners, ISBN #1419140892
Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, ISBN #0199537054
Sarah Grand, The Heavenly Twins, ISBN #1406862444
Norton Anthology of English Literature: Eighth Edition, Volume E. The Victorian Age. ISBN #0393927210
Photocopied course packet