127011 KO Critical Readings in Literature (2020W)

Examining the conditions of 19th century English industrial society, Friedrich Engels wrote that “to the great mass of working-people, the state of misery and insecurity in which they live now is as low as ever, if not lower”. London, he added, “is an ever-spreading pool of stagnant misery and desolation, of starvation when out of work, and degradation, physical and moral”. These were the conditions of poverty, destitution, and alienation which afflicted 19th Century England. Victorian authors similarly reflected upon the pronounced class divisions, resentments, and wealth disparities that structured English industrial capitalist society. Through narrative and poetry, they gave life to the hardships and struggles that pervaded 19th century life, enabling them to represent some of the unspoken political impulses and attitudes emerging in this era. As a result, the seeds of radical political ideas were planted throughout this period, growing into traditions that cast a long shadow over the ensuing century and a half.

The aim of this course is to explore how Victorian novelists and poets engaged and experimented with various political ideas developing at the time – ideas ranging from Utopian Socialism, Feminism, and Anarchism, to Black Liberation and Prison Abolition. This moment of widespread alienation and poverty created the impetus for thinkers to reconsider how society is organized and to decide who, in fact, holds the levers of power. We will therefore regard Victorian Literature as a “workshop” within which authors labored to understand the mechanics of class, power, and politics, and to construct alternative visions of society. As we will discover, Victorian authors keenly observed how the contemporary social system created widespread misery; yet they were also attentive to the new current of radical politics emerging at the time.

Course Outcome:
• Students will be able to identify different critical/theoretical concepts and terms used in analyzing Victorian Literature
• Students will be able to locate various political traditions and theories from the 19th Century, including its key proponents and concepts
• Students will be able to understand how different theoretical concepts operate as useful scholarly tools within the field of literary and cultural studies.