ENGL 90322 - Gender and Victorian Literature

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

English

Description:

This course is designed to give students the long view of critical developments in Victorian literary scholarship that focuses on gender as well as an opportunity to develop original research in current conversations on the topic. During the first four weeks of the semester we will review developments in Victorianist scholarship on gender since the recovery work of Elaine Showalter and Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar in the early eighties. During these first weeks we will focus intensively on Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Alfred Lord Tennyson's poetry. The remainder of the course will be devoted to contextualizing Victorian literature within current Victorianist scholarship on the gentlemanly ideal of character (addressed by scholars such as Lauren Goodlad, Pam Morris, and Stefan Collini), issues of marriage and contract (addressed by scholars such as Sharon Marcus, Rachel Ablow, and Mary Jean Corbett), and gender and political economy (addressed by Mary Poovey and Catherine Gallagher). Victorian texts covered in the course will include Charles Dickens's Dombey and Son, Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh, John Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies, Samuel Smiles' Self-Help, John Stuart Mill's On the Subjection of Women, and George Eliot's Mill on the Floss. Depending on student interest (please e-mail me), this course can also offer coverage of Irish literature from the Victorian era, including Dion Boucicault's The Colleen Bawn, Charles Lever's Harry Lorequer, and Emily Lawless's Grania.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

The Course Profile information is provided and updated by third parties including the respective institutions. While the institutions are able to update their information at any time, the information is not independently validated, and no party associated with this website can accept responsibility for its accuracy.