LIT 400.03: Victorian Women Writers

Fall 2002

Description

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Goals

• will gain an understanding of the aesthetic and rhetorical facets of works by canonical and non-canonical Victorian women writers in several genres;
• will come to understand the cultural contexts that shaped the writings of Victorian women and their reception over the next hundred + years;
• will practice the interpretive skills they have been honing during their English studies at WCU, especially those employed in historical/cultural criticism;
• will develop their communication skills through informal participation in discussions and formal presentations to the class;
• will use informal and formal writing assignments to further develop their responses to the texts.

Texts

• Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese and Other Poems (Dover, 1992)
• Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley's Secret (Oxford, 1998)
• Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (Dover, 1996)
• Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford (Oxford, 1998)
• Mary Kingsley, Travels in West Africa (National Geographic, 2002)
• Christina Rossetti, Poems and Prose of Christina Rossetti (Everyman Paperback Classics, 1994)
• Olive Schreiner, The Story of an African Farm (Dover, 1998)
• Joanne Shattock, ed., Women and Literature 1800-1900 (Cambridge, 2001)
• Augusta Webster, "Portraits" and Other Poems (Broadview, 2000)

• Frances Power Cobbe, "Criminals, Idiots, Women and Minors" (VWWP)
• Harriet Martineau, "Suggestions Towards the Future Government of India" (at Harriet Martineau and the India Question)
• Edith Nesbit, The Railway Children (VWWP)

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Requirements

• Participation: Students are expected to come to class having studied the reading for the day and to participate regularly in class discussion.  Since this is a seminar, my role is to facilitate discussion rather than lecture.  Consequently, in addition to doing the formal oral presentations, you should expect to be a frequent contributor to our analyses and debates.  I won't hesitate to call on those who hang back consistently. (15%)
• Oral Presentations:  1) Introduction of a writer/text.  You will do a ten-minute introduction of one of our readings, focusing on biographical information about the writer or the critical reception of the text.  2)  Lead discussion of a chapter from Women and Literature 1800-1900.  You (and perhaps a peer) will study one of the chapters from the Shattock book (providing cultural context for the Victorian texts), prepare questions about it, and aid me in facilitating discussion for the fifty-minute period.  For both these presentations, a preliminary conference with me is mandatory (failure to meet with me will result in a substantial penalty on the assignment).  Presentations should last somewhere between 10-15 minutes. (20%)
• Reading Quizzes:  At my discretion, there will be quizzes on the Victorian readings and/or the Shattock selections. (10%)
• Midterm Essay:  An out-of-class essay on one of a number of topics to be distributed.  (15%)
• Final Exam Essay:  An out-of-class essay on one of a number of topics to be distributed.  (15%)
• Research Project:  This substantial project may take several forms (term paper, lesson plan, website) but will necessarily include a proposal, an annotated bibliography, and preliminary conference with me, and will be the equivalent of a 2500-word (or 10-page) essay.  More details to follow.  (25%)

Policies

Plagiarism: "Plagiarism is using another's words or ideas without appropriate acknowledgement" (MLA Style Manual 4). In formal essays, "acknowledgement" means using conventions of citation such as the quotation marks and parenthetical note in the previous sentence. Even if you paraphrase someone's words, you must provide a note showing your debt. NOTE: If you plagiarize or use commercial study aids (e.g. Cliff's Notes), in your formal essays, you will receive an irrevocable "F" grade.

Attendance: You are permitted three absences during the semester, excluding those for major medical problems, which will be handled on an individual basis.  You may use these absences for any reason (death in the family, sick days, job interview, car breakdown, field trip, whatever).  In cases of extreme illness or emergency that will require prolonged absence, you are responsible for contacting Dean Bricketto (Student Affairs), whose office will contact your professors and make appropriate recommendations.  If you miss too much of the semester--even with a legitimate medical excuse--I may have to ask you to withdraw.  After the three cuts, your participation grade in the course will be lowered a grade for each cut.

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