Teachers open the doors. You walk in.
Dr. Leila S. May
Office: T 235 * * * Office Hours: T/Th 10:00-11:00, 2:30-4:00; and by appointment
Office Tel: 5-4154 * * * E-mail: leila@unity.ncsu.edu
REQUIRED TEXTS
M. E. Braddon, Lady Audley's Secret (Dover, '74)
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (Bedford/St. Martin's '96)
Charles Dickens,Great Expectations (St. Martin's, '96)
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Signet, '65) (Not the movie version!)
R. L. Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Signet, '94)
Bram Stoker, Dracula (Norton, '97)
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (Signet, ‘62)
All books are available in the NCSU bookstores and Addam's. Please be sure that the texts you purchase are the editions listed above.
Please click here for web resources specific to this course. (The web resources site is a work in progress!)
COURSE DESCRIPTION
In this course we will explore the nineteenth-century British novel from a variety of interrelated vantage points. We will examine the conditions of production--the historical and cultural contexts--which generate these works and which they in turn participate in generating. Of particular concern will be the ways in which representations of gender, sexuality, work, class relations, and the family function in these texts, as well as the effect of narrative form and technique on these representations. The literary genres on which we will most closely focus this semester will include gothic, sensation, and fin-de-siècle ("end of the century") fiction. Novelists will include Mary Shelley, Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, M. E. Braddon, Robert Louis Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, and Bram Stoker. Grades will be based on informal writings, two papers, team journals, an exam, and a final project.
COURSE SCHEDULE (subject to revision)
August
Week 1: Th 21 Introductory classWeek 2: Tu 26 Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818; 1831); (Prefaces-chap. 4)
Th 28 Frankenstein (chaps. 5-10)
September
Week 3: Tu 2 Frankenstein (chaps. 21-end)
Th 4 Frankenstein groups
Week 4: T 9 Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847); (chaps. 1-10)
Th 11 Jane Eyre (chaps. 11-19)
Week 5: T 16 Jane Eyre (chaps. 20-28)
Th 18 Jane Eyre (chaps. 29-38)
Week 6: T 23 Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (1860); (chaps. 1-19)
Th 25 Great Expectations (chaps. 20-31)
Week 7: T 30 Great Expectations (chaps. 32-44)
October
Th 2 Great Expectations (45-end)Week 8: T 7 M. E. Braddon, Lady Audley's Secret (1862) (chaps. 1-15)
Th 9 Fall Break--No Class
Week 9: T 14 Test
Th 16 Lady Audley's Secret (chaps. 16-25)
Week 10: T 21 Lady Audley's Secret (chaps. 26-end)
Th 23 R. L. Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886)
Week 11: T 28 Polished drafts due: peer editing workshop
Th 30 Papers due; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
November
Week 12 T 4 Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) (chaps. 1-4)
Th 6 Professor at conference; discussion of projects
Week 13: T 11 project proposals due; Picture of Dorian Gray (chaps. 5-13)
Th 13 Picture of Dorian Gray (chaps. 14-end)
Week 14: T 18 Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897); (chaps. 1-12)
Th 20 Dracula (chaps. 13-21)
Week 15: T 25 Dracula (22-end)
Th 27 Thanksgiving Holiday--No Class
December
Week 16: T 2 Project presentations
Th 4 Project presentations; class party
Week 17 Final exam date (project presentations, if necessary)
COURSE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
This course will teach you how to approach and master the literature of a particular historical era, in our case, nineteenth-century Britain, a dramatic period in the history of Western literature. I would like you to develop an appreciation of these novels (even the really long ones), and at the same time to go beyond (without relinquishing) the simple experience of "the pleasure of the text" and to start reading and thinking like a critic. Becoming a competent reader and critic of nineteenth-century literature involves certain commitments from you:
Learn how to develop an historical sense. Examine the ways in which the nineteenth century differed from our own era, yet how many of that century's problems, anxieties, pleasures anticipated our own.
Learn how to articulate an idea, to express thoughts more clearly.
You can't simply say, "I know what I mean, but there are no words to express it." I want you to come out of this course with a language to describe what you have experienced.
Learn how to read defensively. One should not take narrative authority at face value. In other words, do not simply equate narrative authority with narrative reliability: question narrative reliability vigorously. There is more to a work of literature than a plot; no text is simply "there," as we have sometimes assumed it to be. A narrative is the result of a design, a plan, and the conscious and unconscious structures of language. This is something that I sincerely hope you will take away with you from this class and apply to your "reading" (in the broadest possible sense of the term) of the world around--whether it's literature, advertisements, political speeches, musical lyrics, or discourse in general.
We will work together toward achieving these goals through the reading of literary and critical texts, class discussion, group work, creative projects, journals, peer editing, and writing papers.
COURSE GUIDELINES
ATTENDANCE AND CLASS PARTICIPATION: As this course focuses primarily on discussion, your punctual attendance and contribution to class discussions are essential and will be counted as part of your final grade. Attendance is required by NC State Academic Regulations for all 200-level courses. More than three unexcused absences will affect your participation grade. Students who miss more than six classes should not expect to pass the course.
READING: You will be expected to have completed the reading assignments for each day BEFORE the class meets, and will be required to hand in periodic homework or in-class assignments based on that day's reading.
TEAM JOURNALS: You will each be assigned to a "team" by the second week of classes, and every week you will write one entry that consists of two parts: 1) ruminations on that week's reading, class discussion, or a response to a specific question which I have raised for you to investigate; 2) a response to at least one other student's entry. Ideally, the journals should give you the opportunity to explore more fully and informally your ideas about the reading (or class discussions) which you find particularly interesting or problematical, and to engage in a sustained dialogue with other members of the class. The journals will be on a shelf outside of my office and should not be taken off campus.
PAPERS: Your paper(s) (approx. 5 pp.) will go through a thorough revision after having had the benefit of two peer editors' remarks. Revisions must be substantive, not merely cosmetic, and should reflect serious consideration of your peers' comments. It is important both for your own benefit and that of your classmates that you attend this workshop.
Essays should be typewritten, double-spaced, and must have ample margins on both sides of the page to allow room for comments. Be certain to number your pages and put your name at the top of each page. You will be responsible for retaining one copy for yourself (either xeroxed or on disk).
LATE PAPERS: Papers are due at the beginning of the class hour on the announced day. I will accept late papers only if you clear them with me in advance, and then only up to a week late. Papers submitted within a week of the due date will receive a split grade, in which the higher of the two grades informs you of what your paper would have received had it been turned in on time. If your paper has not been turned in within a week of the designated date, and you do not have a legitimate medical excuse, the paper will count as an F and will not be read at all. The moral of the story: get your papers in on time!
PROJECTS: In order to accommodate a wide range of learning styles and strengths, rather than simply turning in a traditional paper, I would like you to produce a final creative project and presentation in lieu of one of this semester's paper assignments. The project you select to work on must include at least one text from the half of the semester for which you opted not to write a paper. Projects may be in different media and may involve a performance or presentation to your peers. You are free to work individually or in groups on this project. The key to these projects is creativity: be as creative as you dare. Some sample projects might include:
1. Write an imaginary dialogue or one-act play involving authors or literary characters that you have encountered (and produce a video of your revision?).
2. Rewrite a portion of a pre-twentieth-century work from a twenty-first-century perspective (and produce a video of your revision?).
3. Create a game inspired by some of the themes of the works we've read this semester.
4. Produce a multi-media project that helps to illuminate some features of this semester's literary figures and their works and cultural milieu.
Whether you work individually or as a group, each student must turn in his or her own two-page assessment of the project, including what you learned and what challenges and rewards you encountered in creating the project and presentation. Proposals for final projects should be submitted to me no later than the beginning of week 14 of the semester (the earlier the better).
EXAMS: One midterm (15%) and a final exam (20%). Quizzes will be given as needed.
GRADING: Participation (which is comprised of attendance, activeness in class discussions and group work, quizzes, peer editing, team journals, and homework assignments) will account for 25% of your grade, with papers, projects and exams making up the other 75%. Your essays will be graded as follows:
A-range: Outstanding in every respect. Excellently written, clearly argued, and well-supported by evidence in the text.
B-range: Generally good work, including defendable thesis and strong, clear argument. Distinguished from A-range essays by periodic weaknesses in style or content.
C-range: Generally competent, but showing repeated lapses in conception and execution (e.g., faulty organization, weak support, not following through on some of the ideas raised, major technical errors, etc.).
D and below: Unsatisfactory in both form and content.
A+ = 100-97, A = 96-93, A- = 92-90, B+ = 89-87, B = 86-83, B- = 82-80, C+ = 79-77,
C = 76-73, etc.
Plus/minus grades will be given in this course.
UNIVERSITY POLICIES
PLAGIARISM: I expect all students to be acquainted with the University policy on academic integrity (please read the university's Code of Conduct, sections 7 through 13, Plagiarism entails using another person's ideas without providing the proper documentation for them. It is essential that you give credit for ideas that are not your own or you will be punished with an "F" in the course, with the additional likelihood of being put on Academic Integrity Probation for the remainder of your academic career at NCSU. If you have any questions at all about the appropriate citation form, please do not hesitate to ask me. A final word of caution: I am very good at spotting plagiarism, so do not even think about it!
WEATHER: We occasionally may be subjected to inclement weather. The university has a rather fuzzy policy about this (usually, get to class if you can . . . unless the school decides to close). Check the NC State University Homepage if you have constant access to a computer, or listen to TV/radio for bulletins about closings. I expect you to use your good judgment re weather-related conditions (no single class is worth risking your neck, but a few snowflakes or heavy rain should not pose insurmountable barriers).
DISABILITIES: It is university policy to provide, on a flexible and individualized basis, accommodations for students who have disabilities that may affect their capacity to participate in course activities or meet course requirements. For more on such services, go to the Policies and Rules page, Disabilities Services for Students. It is students' responsibility to register with DSS; after having done so, students with disabilities should contact me as soon as possible to discuss their individual needs for accommodations so that those needs can be met in a timely manner.
Tell me,
and I'll listen
Show me,
and I'll understand
Involve me,
and I'll learn.
Lakota (Sioux)
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