ENG 333
Race, Class, and Gender in 19th-Century British Lit
This course introduces you to the diverse literatures and social issues of nineteenth-century Britain. Through reading a wide selection of genres (poetry, non-fiction essays, autobiography, and novels), we will discuss how issues of humanism, race, class, gender, and empire were represented in nineteenth-century British culture. As such, we will pay special attention to how literary form affects content and vice-versa, especially in terms of the novel’s politics and social critiques. We will read a diversity of novel genres in the Victorian period, including the industrial novel, the sensation novel, and the adventure novel. Possible assignments include blog posts, short writings, and a longer final essay.
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1823)
Mary Prince, The History of Mary Prince (1831)
Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton (1848)
Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret (1862)
Ridger Haggard, King Solomon’s Mines (1885)
Other readings available on Laulima