*Course Introduction:*In this course, we will explore both the contradictory roles of Victorian domestic females and female writers, as well as their negotiation of the public/private realms as they maneuver critically through the created spaces of their writings. We will also look at these female writers’ receptions into the “traditional” canon by contemporary feminist critics.Simultaneously, we will read works from two Victorian male writers in order to demonstrate alternative
perspectives of the domestic Victorian female as she navigates through limitations of marriage, career, status, and security, while acquiring agency and choice.Readings will be drawn from the works of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Gissing, and John Stuart Mill.In small groups of varying sizes, you will present on
the works of Deirdre D’Albertis, Deirdre David, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, Suzanne Graver, Elizabeth Langland, Mary Poovey, Jenny Sharpe, and Virginia Woolf.
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> *Requirements:*Because this class is primarily discussion-based, I will briefly introduce each text as well as provide a general summary of our discussion at the conclusion of each novel. As an active participant in this seminar, you are required to present and initiate discussion of a secondary text (read by all) as well as to produce a 1-2 pp. (single-spaced) handout including a summary and analysis, a list of comprehensive questions, and examples from a relevant primary source.Your on-going participation combined with your group presentation as well as turning in your material on time will constitute 1/4 of your
grade, while the remaining 3/4 will be graded on your 4-5 pp. response paper (during week 7) on a novel or article of your choice (1/4) and 12-15 pp. final seminar paper (1/2). You will meet individually with me to discuss your ideas for your final paper. Your final seminar paper can build on your shorter paper, and your final seminar paper must incorporate at least two novels and three secondary sources. During the final week of classes, you will be asked to share in an informal setting
on the topic of your seminar paper.