ENGL 292 - Topics in British Literature

FDR: HL
Credits: 3-4
Planned Offering: Fall, Winter

Prerequisite: Completion of the FW requirement. Studies in British literature, supported by attention to historical contexts. Versions of this course may survey several periods or concentrate on a group of works from a short span of time. Students develop their analytical writing skills in a series of short papers. May be repeated for degree credit with permission and if the topics are different.

Topic in Fall 2011:

ENGL 292: Topics in British Literature: Satan and the Romantics (3). Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost remains one of the most exciting and influential works in the canon of English literature. In particular, its compelling portrayal of Satan proved central to the Romantics’ theories and practices in their greatest poetry—from Blake’s figures of revolt to Wordsworth’s conception of the egotistical poet to the Shelleyan and Byronic heroes and, finally, to Keats’s quiet rejection of such storm and stress. This course thus introduces students to the major English poets and poems from the late seventeenth through the early nineteenth centuries with special attention to the rich philosophical, religious, political, dramatic, and aesthetic issues raised by Milton’s Satan and his Romantic offspring. (HL) Adams

Topic in Winter 2012:

ENGL 292: Topics in British Literature: Romantic, Victorian, & Modernist Monsters (3). In this class, we explore literary representations of “monsters” – a term that can name a variety of conditions of the body and mind, including unnaturalness, super-naturalness, deformity, depravity, and simple lack of conformity. Beginning in the late 18th century and moving toward the 20th, we compare various literary monsters to conceptualize and distinguish the larger cultural movements of Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist Britain. Critical issues of gender, class, sexuality, and race inform our conversations, built primarily upon a close attention to the texts. These include poems such as Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and Rossetti’s “Goblin Market,” novels such as Shelley’s Frankenstein, Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray, James’ The Turn of the Screw, and Stoker’s Dracula, and other texts. Requirements include active participation, 12-15 pages of critical writing, an in-class presentation, and exams. (HL) Matthews