British Literature after 1800

Required texts (those in Public Domain listed
as PD, and can be downloaded free);

Shelley, Mary, Frankenstein (PD)

  • Brontë, Charlotte, Jane Eyre (PD)
  • Wilde, Oscar, The
    Picture of Dorian Gray
    (PD)
  • Crisp, Quentin, The
    Naked Civil Servent
  • Packer et al., Writing
    Worth Reading

Assignments:

  • Three short (1000 word) papers on controversial topics
    in the texts.  These papers will receive
    guidance from me on the thesis sentence, the draft, and revision[s].  Students may revise papers more than once.
  • Peer evaluations: 
    Students will assess the writing of several of their colleagues in small
    groups.
  • Response papers [like journal entries] regularly throughout
    the semester.
  • Final examination on the date indicated on the time
    schedule.  Students will be asked to
    define terms, identify important characters, to discuss passages from the works
    discussed in class, and to write short essays on the texts.

Brief description;

In this course, we will
discuss a number of themes and issues important in British literature written
after 1800.  Themes will include the
outsider, the nature of humans, women’s rights, treatment of the insane, attitudes
toward sexuality.