- Autumn 2022
Syllabus Description:
Syllabus provided in hard copy on Day 1.
Professor Burstein Jb2@uw.edu
Engl 529
Office hours: Padelford A502. Tuesdays 8-10 am and by appointment
Phone: 206-616-4181
Zoom office (ignore this and go to A502): https://washington.zoom.us/j/98414369304
MGH 282 TTh, 1:30-3:20 (with one exception: 1 November)
19th Century Spectacle of Woman –On (Looking at):
Sex Workers, Fallen Women, New Women, Artists, and Monsters
Texts
Bronte, Jane Eyre (1847) Penguin Classics (576 pages)
George Eliot, Middlemarch. (1871-72) Penguin. Ed. Rosemary Ashton ISBN-13 : 978-0141439549 (880 pages)
George du Maurier, Trilby intro by E. Showalter, Oxford World Classics ISBN 13: 9780199538805 (1894) (339 pages),
Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau, Penguin Classics, intro by M Atwood ISBN-13 : 978-0141441023 [130 pgs] (1896)
Bram Stoker, Dracula (Penguin Classics) Paperback 978-0141439846 (1897) (560 pages)
Dracula on Gutenberg (handy for searching): https://www.gutenberg.org/files/345/345-h/345-h.htm
Course Reader, 2 vols., hard copy.
Schedule
Week 1
Thursday 29 Sept: Introduction
Week 2 “Just the text, ma’am.”
Tuesday 4 Oct: Brontë, Jane Eyre ch 1-10 (at least).
Thursday 6 October, Brontë; the rest.
Week 3: Madness & Aberration
Tuesday 11 October, Brontë and
Showalter, The Female Malady (excerpts): “Nervous Women” &
“The Rise of the Victorian Madwoman”
Thursday 13 October, Brontë and
- Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, selections (read online at Gutenberg.org):
- Make sure to read TOC’s in both vols 1 and 4.
- From Vol 1 : Preface and opening 9 pages and “Of the Women Street Sellers” section.
- From Vol 4: skim opening pages cataloguing London’s agencies for suppression of vice, (“by Rev. Tuckniss”); then Mayhew’s pp. 1-35, “Prostitution” sections, p. 35-205 (concentrate on categories) in Vol 4.
- David, “Empire, Race, and the Victorian Novel” [skim the Dickens stuff]
- Milbank, “Victorian Gothic in English Novels and Stories”
--final 20ish minutes on How to Read a Library Professionally: see “Bibliography” below). No prep needed.
Week 4: Degeneration & Eugenics
Tuesday 18 October: Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau
John Kucich, “Scientific Ascendancy” https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/washington/reader.action?docID=214235&ppg=1
Thursday 20 October: Wells and contexts:
Nordau, Degeneration, Chaps 1-5 read online at Gutenberg
Gilman, “The Hottentot and the Prostitute: Toward an Iconography of Female Sexuality”
Review Mayhew readings above: prostitution and mobility
Week 5 Animals
Tuesday 25 October: Nordau, Gilman, Moreau con’t. plus
Have your 1000-words closereading scene approved before 9 am Wednesday. Bear in mind that asking for approval is the not the same as receiving approval. Plan ahead.
Thursday 27
October: No class; JB at conference. Work on CFP and annotated biblio.
[read Trilby, do 1000 words.]
-Volume 2 of Course Reader begins here -
Week 6: Animals & Artists
Tuesday 1 November: 1,000 words closereading due, hard copy.
Have read [article via Linett to come].
Attend Maren Linett talk, 2:30-4. The talk runs over usual class time; you can leave at 3:20 if need be—but if you can stay, please do. There will be a Q and A afterwards (and maybe reception/free food?/drink?—in accord w/ COVID realities and individual comfort levels.) It’s also a professionalizing exercise that will serve you well.
Thursday 3 November First 30 minutes or so will be discussion of Linett’s talk. Then DuMaurier, Trilby. Have finished entire novel.
Week 7: Altered States
Tuesday 8 November: Du Maurier and the New Woman
Thursday 10 November: Du Maurier and
Winter, excerpts, Mesmerized: Powers of Mind in Victorian Britain
Ferguson, “Footnotes on Trilby”
Week 8: Looking
Tuesday 15 November: Middlemarch, all of it.
Thursday 17 November : Middlemarch and [optics to come]
Useful for searching and context: Online version Annotated by your fellow dpt grad students for conference arranged by their UW 19th C Reading Group: Middlemarch conference. https://uw.manifoldapp.org/read/middlemarch-bdd03e32-a6de-4cfa-a83d-b8f55984819e/section/26b0b965-dfd1-472c-bb66-a4362a421c59#pgepubid00004
CFP #1 due.
Week 9
Tuesday 22 November: 1 hour Middlemarch, and 40 mins CFP discussion
Thursday 24 November : National holiday
Week 10 Monsters
Tuesday 29 November : Stoker, Dracula
Selections from Daston.
1000 words due.
CFP #2 due if assigned.
Thursday 2 December : Stoker &
Sexy Vampire Monster Animals Who Trouble Production and Might Take Over the Empire (again)
Week 11 Birds Eye.
Tuesday 6 December Stoker. Victorian v. Modern.
Thursday 8 December. Proto-Roundtable: CFP discussion and class conclusion: Review all course readings for no less than 30 consecutive minutes (more is good, but 30 is mandatory) in order to discuss in varying connections with each other.
Grading.
This is a reading intensive seminar. Foremost, you must be prepared for and contribute (aloud) to each class; this entails a strategic and continuous time commitment. Let’s go over how to do that on the first day.
Your course grade will be based the 4.0 system, combining verbal contributions (including but not limited to presentations, below) and written work: 50/50.
Presenting
Starting week three you’ll be responsible for discussion for three (nonconcurrent) class periods, and at least two different authors. You will start with a 5 minute spiel (not read, but notes are fine) that sets up your point.
Email the class at least 36 hours ahead of time to tell us what you’ll be focusing on; direct our attention to particular questions and/or passages.
Written Professional Skills: These exercises will be graded individually with letter grades ranging A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C- (or F if MIA). Due in hard copy.
- A written response CFP. See instructions in Canvas “files.”
CFP: Colloquium on “Where We Are Now,” University of Washington, Autumn 2022. 20 minute papers focusing on literary aspects of the period 1800-1900 in British (conceived widely) literature. 500-700 words. Annotated Bibliography required.
You’ll turn your CFP in and then have it approved (or not—you may need to rework your paper’s ken). I might turn it back to you with suggestions.
- 1000 words [+]: A closereading of a single scene from any class novel-- spanning no more than 2 consecutive published pages. Passage to be approved in advance. You might have to do this twice; I have marked the first time’s due date above.
Bibliography for you: Professional matters.
Books—mono and collections.
Companions.
Journals.
Hard copy vs online only.
Misc.
Always write me from your uw.edu email account. I do not open emails sent from personal accounts.
Meeting aren’t held via email.
You are very welcome to come see me in office hours. Issues will differ. You do not need to be shiny.
If you require accommodation owing to a disability, contact the Disabilities Resources for Students Office (DRS) in Schmitz Hall 448 (206-548-8924; uwdss@u.washington.edu) or the Disabilities Services Office (DSO) at dso@u.washington.edu. It is your responsibility to follow all rules outlined by the DRS/DSO: Should forms be involved, you must ensure delivery to me with time enough to allow for us to arrive at a mutual understanding of the means by which those accommodations are best met.
“ The Department of English at the University of Washington acknowledges that our university is located on the shared lands and waters of the Coast Salish peoples. We aspire to be a place where human rights are respected and where any of us can seek support. This includes people of all ethnicities, faiths, gender identities, national and indigenous origins, political views, and citizenship status; nontheists; LGBQTIA+; those with disabilities; veterans; and anyone who has been targeted, abused, or disenfranchised.
Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/) (Links to an external site.). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/) (Links to an external site.).”
--28 Sept 2022