English 190

Book List

Carroll, Lewis: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass; Dickens, Charles: David Copperfield; Gaskell, Elizabeth: North and South; Stoker, Bram: Dracula; Tennyson, Alfred: In Memoriam A. H. H.

Other Readings and Media

Course reader.

Description

This course will recreate the reading experiences of the nineteenth-century public, examining publishing trends and literary forms in Victorian Britain. We'll explore the rise of mass literacy, the growth of the periodical press, the serialization of novels, the formation of an English-language poetic canon, and the transformation of children's literature. Placing canonical works of Victorian literature in the context of nineteenth-century print culture, we'll look at advertisements, read contemporary reviews, and take note of reading behaviors. Dickens's David Copperfield will form the backbone of our course; we'll read it in its monthly parts to re-create the experience of serialization. Other texts will include Carroll's Alice books, Gaskell’s North and South, Stoker’s Dracula, Tennyson’s In Memoriam, and essays by Huxley and Arnold.

Please read the paragraph on page 2 of the instructions area of this Announcement of Classes for more details about enrolling in or wait-listing for this course.