British Literature from 1800, "The Mythmakers"

NOTE: These questions will be due for Thursday instead, since we missed class this Tuesday. So if you haven't turned them yet, no worries. The questions are always due on the day we discuss a work, so if class is cancelled, it gets pushed back.  Answer two of the following:  Q1:Why do you think Victor is so unwilling to believe that the Creature could ever intend to kill Elizabeth? As he says, "if for one instant I had thought what might be the hellish intention of my fiendish adversary, I would rather have banished myself for ever from my native country, and wandered a miserable outcast over the earth" (185). Is he really this naive, or is this a narrative feint for Walton's approval? (or, did Walton add it himself)?  Q2: When Victor finds Elizabeth slain by the Creature, he “rushed toward her, and embraced her with ardour” (189). This is the only time he embraces her in the novel! Her also spends quite some time in describing her body as left flung lifelessly across...

  Since the weather looks iffy, I'll cancel today (Tuesday's) class and we'll reschedule everything for Thursday. The reading and in-class writing ideas are in the post below this one. You didn't have any questions due, so don't worry about missing work. Just be sure you're caught up on reading so we can hit the ground running on Thursday. We'll be a day behind, but I'll adjust the calendar to reflect that and post the revisions on the blog later. Enjoy the day, and see you on Thursday! 

Goya, A Way of Flying (etching, 1819) Since we have the weekend, I encourage you to read a little more of the book, and to help you do that, I won't give you any questions to answer. When you come to class next week, we'll have an in-class response based on some big idea that occurs in these chapters . Below are some ideas you might want to consider as you read, since we'll probably write about one of them (and that will count for your Tuesday Reading Response).  IDEAS TO CONSIDER (don't answer--we'll write about some of this on Tuesday):  * How is the Creature's education shaped by his reading in the cottager's hut? What other works might shape his future character? You might also consider why Shelley chose these specific works for the Creature to read (it's more than a coincidence)...and maybe Victor/Walton chose them, too? * How does Shelley make us empathize with the Creature, even as he commits murder and mayhem? Why might she try to make a murderer...

Witches' Sabbath by Goya  As always, try to read carefully and with detail rather than skimming to the end. Reading a book is never about the finish line, but what you find and encounter along the way. But try to get as close to page 118 as possible for our next class. Answer TWO of the following:  Q1: In Book 1, Chapter 7, Victor and Elizabeth interview Justine in prison, and learn of her false confession, made in danger of eternal torment. Why doesn't Victor, who knows the truth, tell the court what he knows? And why might this passage be consistent with other passages of abandonment in the novel? Q2: How does Elizabeth change over the course of these chapters? Victor notes that "She was no longer that happy creature," and that she had "become grave." Is it just the death of her loved ones that causes this change? As one of the few women in the novel, why might her character be significant to the novel, and not just a footnote? You might also consider w...

  INTRO: For each book we read, I’ll begin our discussion with an examination of a pivotal artist whose works I feel are in dialogue with the book in question. We will always do an in-class writing to get us thinking about the work, and then we’ll continue to use the artists’ work and ideas as a frame for our class discussions. Ideally, this will help you see the many of the themes of the novel visually, which will also remind you that different forms of art aren’t created in a vacuum. Writers are looking at paintings and listening to music and living in a world that continually inspires them. It quickly becomes a ‘chicken or the egg’ situation: who dreamed it up first? Who inspired whom? PROMPT: To help you explore the connections between literature and art, I want you to write THREE “Art and Literature” readings, based on ANY THREE of the novels in class. To do this, I want you to use a work from the artist we discuss in class to examine a specific passage in the book. This pap...

  NOTE: Try to read as much of the first FIVE chapters of Frankenstein for Tuesday's class. There's SO MUCH to discuss here, so we can't possibly be through it all. The questions below are a kind of 'wish list' of what I hope to discuss, and where you might focus your reading as you wade through the opening chapters. Use the questions as a kind of guide if you find yourself lost and aren't sure what to look for and/or think about. But you only have to answer any TWO of them. Bring them to class on Tuesday if possible, but you have until 5pm on Tuesday to turn them in.    Answer TWO of the following:  Q1: Most first-time readers of Frankenstein are surprised to find that the novel begins with a frame narrative: that of Walton, the arctic explorer, who is writing home to his sister, Mrs. Saville. Why do you think Shelley found this a necessary intro to the story? Why not simply open up with Frankenstein’s story? Also, why is a narrator like Walt...

 Welcome to the Course!  In this British literature survey, I want to focus on the literary myths authors created between 1800-1940 that have become a cultural shorthand on both sides of the pond. England was a virtual laboratory of new ideas in this era, giving birth to some of the most disturbing, provocative, and prophetic characters in the entire history of English literature (or any other!). From Frankenstein’s Monster to 1984’s Big Brother, we are constantly revisiting and re-writing these myths in an attempt to understand their attraction, or perhaps to exorcise their influence. Just think about how many songs and movies reference the books on this syllabus! What would pop culture be without Alice in Wonderland (Jefferson Airplane and The Matrix !), and where would the genre of True Crime be without Sherlock Holmes ? I think we can all agree we live in a better world thanks to these Victorian and Edwardian nightmares…so the question is, how did they dream them up? Wha...