ENG 0495
Imperial Appetites: Victorian Literature and Consumer Culture in the British Empire
Fall 2016
Monday/Wednesdays Time TBD
Classroom: TBD
Professor Meg Dobbins
[email protected]
Office Hours: TBD
Lipton Advertisement, 1892 1892 Lipton Advertisement, 1892 1892
Lipton Advertisement, 1892 1892
Lipton Advertisement, 1892 1892
Description: In this seminar we explore how imperialist and consumer desires emerged and shaped one another in Victorian literature. At the end of her long reign (1837-1901), Queen Victoria ruled over a quarter of the earth's total surface. What patterns and structures of cultural contact and exchange were fostered by colonial economies in the Victorian age? What do everyday consumer practices in Victorian England—eating, drinking, buying, selling, shopping, "using"—tell us about the people and places of the Empire and how they interacted with one another in an age characterized by imperial globalization, industrialization, and commodification? In popular and lesser-known novels, short fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and advertisements of the era, we will examine the pervasive metaphor of appetites in colonial Victorian culture. As we read, we will be particularly concerned with the fluidity between bodies and things in the British Empire and how representations of consumer desires intersect with Victorian understandings of race, class, disability, gender, and sexuality in the nineteenth century. Some of the consumer appetites we will discuss in this semester include "sweet tooths," alcohol and opium addiction, and cannibalism. As is often the case when studying literature of the recent past, we will find ourselves reflecting on these topics in relation to the pains and pleasures of consumer culture in our own time.
Course Requirements: Over the course of the semester, you will compose two short close readings (2 pages) on assigned topics, give a class presentation (15 minutes) on the material and cultural history of a colonial commodity (e.g. tea, opium, guns, curry) and write and revise a final, researched paper on a topic of your own design (15 pages). Class participation is also an essential component of this class and will be factored into your final grade.
Objectives: By the end of the semester, you will be able to:
Analyze and discuss literature in relation to the colonial locations and economic markets of the Empire and significant political and cultural events of the nineteenth century
Define "consumerism" and draw connections between consumer trends in the nineteenth century and modern consumer habits
Evaluate scholarly sources and produce an original, researched essay on a topic of your choice related to texts and topics covered in the class
Required Texts
Jules Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days (1873)
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (1861)
George Eliot, Brother Jacob (1864)
Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four (1890)
Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897)
Grading Breakdown
Close Reading 1
10%
Close Reading 2
10%
Commodity Presentation
20%
Researched Paper Prospectus
10%
Researched Paper
30%
Class Participation
20%
COURSE POLICIES
Attendance:
Attendance is an essential component of this discussion-based class. No distinction will be made between "excused" and "unexcused" absences; however, you may miss up to two class periods with no questions asked. In the event that you are absent, you are accountable for material covered during class time and any announcements or changes made to the syllabus. In addition, you are responsible for getting any supplementary reading assignments or handouts from your classmates or checking in with me during office hours.
Participation:
You are expected to participate actively in every class discussion and class activity. You will receive a written evaluation around midterm and consistent (weekly or bi-weekly) feedback throughout the course about your participation.
A few tips on preparing for class:
Active annotation is the key to lively class discussions. Always read with a pen/pencil in hand.
Remember that questions can be just as good as (often better than) opinions and comments.
Reread. Take 5-10 minutes to review your annotations before coming to class
Please contact me if you have a question about any reading assignment for this class. If something is unclear, just ask.
Office Hours and Email:
Some things that might bring you to office hours include: help refining your annotation strategies, questions about course content, help understanding or getting started on papers, questions about feedback on papers, help improving your participation in class discussion, catching up on missed classes etc. Keep in touch, and don't be shy. I am also available through email, but meeting in office hours is often more effective.
Electronic Devices:
Please contact me if you require the use of a laptop in class. Otherwise, turn off all cell phones, laptops, and electronic devices before class. Texting/Facebooking etc. in class will be counted as an absence.
Academic Support, Disabilities, and Learning Accommodations:
We will be doing a lot of reading and writing in this class, so you will want to familiarize yourself with and take advantage of the academic support systems available on campus:
http://www.mssu.edu/student-affairs/student-success-center/index.php
This class is designed to challenge you, but if you have a documented disability or think you may have an undocumented disability, please let me know. It is common for students to need accommodations to complete coursework. You can read more about learning accommodations and disability services at MSSU here:
http://www.mssu.edu/student-affairs/disability-services/index.php
Plagiarism and Academic Integrity:
We will review practices of academic integrity in class prior to the due date of your first assignment. In the meantime, please make sure you review MSSU's complete academic integrity policy (yes, seriously, all of it), and let me know if you have any questions:
http://www.mssu.edu/dean-of-students/pdfs/2015-2016%20Student%20Handbook.pdf
"Opium smokers in the East End of London," London Illustrated News, 1874 "Opium smokers in the East End of London," London Illustrated News, 1874
Reading and Assignment Schedule
"Opium smokers in the East End of London," London Illustrated News, 1874
"Opium smokers in the East End of London," London Illustrated News, 1874
M 8/29
Recommended Reading: Thomas Richards, "The Great Exhibition of Things" 17-71 (Blackboard)
Introductory Lecture: Imperial Display and Desire: The Crystal Palace and Alexis Soyer's "Universal Symposium of All Nations"
W 8/31
Jules Verne, Around the World 7-68
Class Activity: Mapping the British Empire
M 9/5
Verne, Around the World 68-171
Class Activity: Mapping the British Empire
W 9/7
Karl Marx, "The Fetishism of Commodities" in Capital: Volume One 1-10 (Blackboard)
Verne, Around the World 171-202
Recommended Reading: Suzanne Daly, "Colonial Commodities" 1-12 (Blackboard)
*Assign Commodity Presentations
M 9/12
Anne McClintock, "Soft-Soaping Empire: Commodity Racism and Imperial Advertising" 207-231 (Blackboard)
Class activity: Victorian Advertisements
W 9/14
George Eliot, Brother Jacob 49-87
Recommended reading: Voltaire, Candide XIX: What Happened to Them at Surinam [Excerpts] (Blackboard)
Presentation: Victorian Confectionary/Sweets
M 9/19
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations chs. 1-12
Recommended Reading: A Christmas Carol [excerpts] (Blackboard)
Presentation: Meat Pies and Puddings
W 9/21
Great Expectations chs. 13-19
M 9/26
Great Expectations chs. 20-30
*Close Reading 1 due
W 9/28
Great Expectations chs. 31-36
Presentation: Cotton and Other Victorian Textiles
M 10/3
Great Expectations chs. 37-46
W 10/5
Great Expectations chs. 47-52
M 10/10
Great Expectations chs. 53-59& Afterward
Holly Furneaux, "Homotropics: Queer Travels and New Homelands" in Queer Dickens 141-176
W 10/12
Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 9-59
Presentation: Victorian Spices and Curry
M 10/17
Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 60-110
Presentation: Tea
W 10/19
Christina Rossetti, "Goblin Market" (Blackboard)
Anna Krugovoy Silver, "Christina Rossetti's Sacred Hunger" in Victorian Literature and the Anorexic Body 136-170 (Blackboard)
M 10/24
Rossetti, "Goblin Market"
Presentation: Milk/ Food Adulteration and Contamination
W 10/26
Rudyard Kipling, "Gunga Din"; "The White Man's Burden"; "The Ballad of East and West" (Blackboard)
Presentation: Gin and Tonic Water
M 10/31
Lord Alfred Tennyson, "The Lotos-Eaters"; "Ulysses"
Susan Ziegler, "Introduction: Addiction and History" in Inventing the Addict: Drugs, Race, and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century British and American Literature 1-32 (Blackboard)
Librarian Presentation: Scholarly Sources, Searching Academic Databases, etc.
W 11/2
Robert Louis Stevenson, "The Beach of Falesá" 188-214 (Blackboard)
*Close Reading 2 Due on Blackboard by 5pm
M 11/7
Stevenson, "The Beach of Falesá" 214-245 (Blackboard)
Oliver S. Buckton, "The White Man's Quarrel" : Sexuality, Travel, and Colonialism in Stevenson's South Sea Tales" (Blackboard)
Presentation: Guns
W 11/9
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of the Four 49-76
Thomas De Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater [excerpts] (Blackboard)
Presentation: Opium
M 11/14
Doyle, The Sign of the Four 76-118
*Close Reading 2 Due on Blackboard by 5pm
W 11/16
Doyle, The Sign of the Four 119-156
M 11/21
Bram Stoker, Dracula ch 1-7
*Prospectus Due on Blackboard by 5pm
11/23 NO CLASS FOR THANKSGIVING BREAK
M 11/28
Bram Stoker, Dracula ch 8-14
Stephen D. Arata, "The Occidental Tourist: Dracula and the Anxiety of Reverse Colonization" 621-645
W 11/30
Stoker, Dracula ch 15-17
*F 12/2
Rough Draft (optional) of Researched Paper Due on Blackboard by 5pm
Final Paper Peer Review Weekend Workshop (optional) (Location and Date TBD)
M 12/5
Stoker, Dracula, ch 18-23
W 12/7
Stoker, Dracula, ch 24-end
Final Thoughts
***Researched paper final draft due through Blackboard on Friday, 12/9 by 5:00pm***
