Victorian Literature

Welcome to the Victorian Literature Module!

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Programme for Spring Term 2015 (Christine Gmr)
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I am looking forward to meeting you in spring and hope for interesting debates, inspiring
discussions and fascinating insights into the Victorian world. It is essential that you use your
Christmas vacation to undertake as much primary reading as possible, as the set texts
this term are long and deserve careful preparation.
Make sure you read good scholarly editions. It is worth investing in these copies as they come
with a wealth of useful additional information which will help you with your essays. Good
editions include Norton, Penguin and Oxford Classics. They are edited by experts in the field
and contain critical introductions, notes to the text, helpful appendices and good
bibliographies. Make use of these, read them preferably after you have read the text and
compare your own impressions with those of the editor of your edition. Are there points with
which you agree or disagree?
As you would be surprised for a craftsperson to appear at your doorstep without her tools, we
equally expect you to bring your physical copies of the texts to the seminar. The better
prepared you are, the more you will be able to contribute to and benefit from the classes, so
do fondle those details, annotate your copies and mark the passages which please, push or
puzzle you! You might also find it useful to record your thoughts and impressions in a
notebook.
Please feel free to email me with any questions: csg501@york.ac.uk

Course Outline

Week 2

Workshop
Contextualising the Victorians
In this first workshop, we will be looking at backgrounds, contexts and
concepts. Questions to be asked include, but are by no means limited to:
In what way did the political situation influence the conditions of life and work
in Britain? What about international politics? And what were the issues raised
on race, class and gender during the period? What were work conditions like
and which were the forms of entertainment available? How did the education
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system work? How was a life in the countryside different from that in a large
city?

Week 3

Seminar
Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
In one of Dickenss most widely read novels, identity is a key concept. Have a
look at how identities real and fake ones are constructed and sometimes
dismantled. How does Dickens portray crime through the eyes of a child? And
how does Oliver manage to steer away from evil? Do not forget to have a look
at the pictures. What additional information do they provide about the
narrative? Can you think of reasons why this novel is still so successful today?

Week 4

Workshop
Lord Alfred Tennyson, Maud
It has been claimed that Maud raises the question on how it is possible for an
individual to live in a world that makes unjust or unreal demands. Do you
agree? Think about the genre of the poem. Is it a love poem? As a reader, what
is your reaction to the narrator? In what way is Maud a comic poem and how is
this comedy presented to the reader? Examine the poems rhythmic structure.
How does it support the narrative of the text?

Week 5

Seminar
Charlotte Bront, Villette
Lucy Snowe is yet another Victorian orphan. What does make orphans such
popular protagonists? As the novels heroine, Lucy has often been criticised for
her passivity. How much of this is a character trait and how much is a symptom
for patriarchal oppression of women? How does it deal with issues of gender?
Think about the genres this novel touches on. Which genres describe the novel
best? In which moments does the genre of the novel seem to change?

Week 6

Workshop
Lewis Carroll, Alices Adventures in Wonderland and
Through the Looking-Glass
Carroll stands for stories of adventure and growing up, but also for composing
some of the most iconic nonsense poetry. Is there sense in nonsense?
Carroll can also be examined in terms of Victorian attitudes towards childhood
and womanhood. Does gender play an important role in these texts? Are the
Alice stories about children or for children?
Is it relevant for the interpretation of the text that we see Alice wake up at the
end of the novel? What does the text tell us about being asleep and the
mechanisms of dreaming?
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Week 7

Seminar
George Eliot, Silas Marner
Eliots third novel has often been described as realistic. Would you agree?
Which passages strike you as particularly realistic and what mechanisms does
the novel use to create this realism? How does Eliot portray industrialism?
Workshop
Victorian Literature and the Visual Arts
Literature and the Visual Arts have often been considered as sister arts. How
was this relationship perceived in the nineteenth-century? What changes did it
undergo?

Week 8

No class this week. Use the time to prepare your essays and to catch up with
the reading.

Week 9

Seminar
George Bernard Shaw, Mrs Warrens Profession
In several countries, Shaws play was banned from the stage as it was
considered too upsetting for the audience. Have a look at the plays reception
when it first appeared. What were the main points of criticism?
Where do you identify the major shifts in power balance between mother and
daughter in the play? Look at the various issues of class, gender, work ethic
and education raised in the play. Which of these strike you as being treated in
particularly unconventional ways in Shaws play? Who would you describe as
a target audience for Mrs Warrens Profession and why?