One Final Post--and a Reading List

I've e-mailed everyone with an end-of-semester message as well as a reminder about Final Papers (see assignment a few posts down). Remember that all papers are due no later than Friday by 5pm! 

As a parting gift (as much as I can afford), I want to give you a summer reading list for those who just can't get enough British literature! I know, most of you probably want to go back to pleasure reading--or no reading at all! However, if you find yourself bored and in need of a British fix, here are a few works I recommend that we might have read in the class, but simply didn't have time for. I've included links on Ebay so you can find cheap copies of these classic works—and not give Amazon any more money! :) 

Otherwise, enjoy the break and don't hesitate to write me with any questions or concerns at jgrasso@ecok.edu. 

A FEW BOOKS TO CONSIDER BETWEEN WOLLSTONECRAFT AND RHYS

Wollstonecraft, Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (her best-selling collection of letters written to her lover, Gilbert Imlay, while she traveled alone throughout Scandinavia with her toddler in tow--all while he was cheating on her! Very interesting book): https://www.ebay.com/itm/Letters-Written-in-Sweden-Norway-and-Denmark-Paperback-by-Wollstonecraft/272931530333?epid=70917456&hash=item3f8bfca65d:g:rYgAAOSw5Qtb2cr-

Walpole, The Castle of Otranto (the very first Gothic novel--not terrifying, but kind of nuts in a fun way...like crossing Monty Python with Dracula): https://www.ebay.com/itm/Castle-of-Otranto-A-Gothic-Story-Paperback-by-Walpole-Horace-Groom-Nick/273422414127?epid=201539801&hash=item3fa93ef12f:g:D0EAAOSwo2xb2c1z

Austen, Mansfield Park (in many ways, her most gothic novel—about a woman isolated between her morals and her duty): https://www.ebay.com/itm/Penguin-classics-Mansfield-Park-by-Jane-Austen-Paperback/174191672665?epid=2369470&hash=item288ea1fd59:g:dnkAAOSw-wVeXu8l

Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (because why not?!): https://www.ebay.com/itm/Jane-Eyre-Modern-Library-by-Charlotte-Bronte-Paperback-2000/223998986256?epid=1754151&hash=item3427614810:g:lWsAAOSwJlResA64

Emily Bronte, Poems (she didn't write another novel, but she wrote a very strong collection of poems--all with the sensibility of Wuthering Heights): https://www.ebay.com/itm/Emily-Bronte-Poems-Pocket-Poets-by-Emily-Bront/372726159208?epid=1049018&hash=item56c835d768:g:4ZMAAOxysstSXpUO

Gaskell, Gothic Tales (seven stories from a famous novelist who wrote the first biography of her friend, Charlotte Bronte): https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gothic-Tales-by-Elizabeth-Cleghorn-Gaskell/193372907076?epid=1793775&hash=item2d05ec6644:g:-iMAAOSwc99eY16g

Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (a story that was inspired by Frankenstein, and took the idea of an ‘evil double’ to new heights): https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dr-Jekyll-and-Mr-Hyde-and-Weir-of-Hermiston-Oxford-Worlds-Classics-Stevenson/183427484238?epid=373309&hash=item2ab5214a4e:g:EYEAAOSw32lYo7Rx

Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (another novel about uncanny doubles, but this one is even nastier in its satire on upper-class values and snobbery): https://www.ebay.com/itm/Oxford-Worlds-Classics-The-Picture-of-Dorian-Gray-by-Oscar-Wilde-2008/124136350132?epid=66222281&hash=item1ce71a61b4:g:t3QAAOSw2gxYpOpU

Stoker, Dracula (the greatest of all the Gothic novels--a riveting page-turner that is also a scathing critique of 19th century England): https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dracula-by-Bram-Stoker-New-Leather-Bound-Deluxe-Collectible-with-Ribbon-Bookmark/302385988359?hash=item46679c0307:g:ghsAAOSwEHhawbUy

Woolf, A Room of One’s Own (an essay about why there are relatively so few women writers before the 20^th century—and one of the books that inspired how I approached this class; a must read for anyone interested in feminism or simply women writers): https://www.ebay.com/itm/A-Room-of-Ones-Own-by-Virginia-Woolf-1989-Paperback/333591059434?epid=57516&hash=item4dab939bea:g:boYAAOSwTuJYonYS

Lessing, The Golden Notebook (one of the great books of 20^th century British feminism—a great follow-up to the ideas in Mansfield, especially): https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Golden-Notebook-Perennial-Classics-Edition-by-Doris-Lessing/142743974989?_trkparms=aid%3D555021%26algo%3DPL.SIMRVI%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20190711100440%26meid%3D59e69418b2c14af7a533c9f7077b7e06%26pid%3D100752%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D14%26mehot%3Dlo%26sd%3D302334881109%26itm%3D142743974989%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplRVIAMLv5WebWithPLRVIOnTopCombiner&_trksid=p2047675.c100752.m1982

Simmonds, Gemma Bovery (a fascinating graphic novel by a modern British writer/artist that imagines Flaubert’s 19^th century novel, Madame Bovery in modern France among English vacationers): https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gemma-Bovery-by-Simmonds-Posy-0224052519/283861318594?epid=30294985&hash=item421773fbc2:g:z4UAAOSwsKRep9qU