English 228.01 Modern British and Irish Fiction (Fall 1998)

 

Prof. Anthony Stocks

Office: Rice 124;

Office Phone X8575;

Home Phone 216-221-5061;

English Department Mailbox: Rice 139;

Email: fstocks@oberlin.edu

Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 1:30-2:45 PM and by appointment

Required Texts (available at Co-op Bookstore):

Conrad: The Secret Agent (Oxford)

Wilde: Picture of Dorian Gray (Norton)

Joyce: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Penguin)

Woolf: Jacob's Room (Penguin)

Forster: Howard's End (Norton)

Lawrence: The Rainbow (Oxford)

Lewis: Tarr (1918 Version) (Black Sparrow)

Orwell: Keep the Aspidistra Flying (Harbrace)

Rhys: Voyage in the Dark (Norton)

Beckett: Murphy (Grove)

Supplementary readings will be distributed in class on an ad hoc basis.

Sept. 3

Introduction to the Course

 

Sept 8

The Lay of the Land: Modernity, Modernism, and the Novel

Sept. 10

Conrad: The Secret Agent, Chs. 1-6

 

Sept. 15

Conrad: The Secret Agent, Chs. 7-13

Sept. 17

Wilde: The Picture of Dorain Gray, Chs. 1-10

 

Sept. 22

Wilde: The Picture of Dorain Gray, Chs. 11-20

Sept. 24

Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Chs. 1-2

 

Sept. 29

Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Chs. 3-4

Oct. 1

Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ch. 5

 

Oct. 6

Woolf: Jacob's Room, Chs. 1-7

Oct. 8

Woolf: Jacob's Room, Chs. 8-14

PAPER #1 DUE IN CLASS

 

Oct. 13

Forster: Howard's End, Chs. 1-21

Oct. 15

Forster: Howard's End, Chs. 22-44

 

Fall Break

 

Oct. 27

Lawrence: The Rainbow, Chs. 1-4

Oct. 29

Lawrence: The Rainbow, Chs. 5-8

 

Nov. 3

Lawrence: The Rainbow, Chs. 9-12

Nov. 5

Lawrence: The Rainbow, Chs. 13-16

 

Nov. 10

Lewis: Tarr, Parts I-II

Nov. 12

Lewis: Tarr, Parts III-V

PAPER #2 DUE IN CLASS

 

Nov. 17

Lewis: Tarr, Parts VI-VII

Nov. 19

Rhys: Voyage in the Dark, Part I

 

Nov. 24

Rhys: Voyage in the Dark, Parts II-IV

Nov. 26

No Class: Thanksgiving Holiday

 

Dec. 1

Orwell: Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Chs. 1-6

Dec. 3

Orwell: Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Chs. 7-12

 

Dec. 8

Beckett, Murphy, Chs. 1-8

Dec. 10

Beckett, Murphy, Chs. 9-13; Last Day of Class

PAPER #3 DUE IN MY MAILBOX (RICE 130) BY 4:30 PM, THURSDAY, 17 DECEMBER

This course will survey the field of "British" fiction between the 1890s and the Second World War. While we'll acknowledge the formal innovations for which this era is usually celebrated, we'll also seek to interrogate the origins of these stylistic changes, attempting to read them as complex responses to the various pressures of modernity that may be discerned in Western society in the early twentieth century. The course will therefore pay close attention to the question of the fortunes of art (and especially the novel) in an era of advanced imperialist capitalism; it will ask how questions of gender, ethnicity, and class are played out in the writing of this period; and it will investigate how new discourses such as Einsteinian physics, Freudian psychoanalysis, and Frazerian anthropology shaped the realm of British fiction.

Class Procedure: I hope to divide the course about evenly between informal lectures and open class discussion. To this end, I expect you to come to class on time and prepared to offer your thoughts on the assignment of the day. As you read the assignment before class you should make every effort to retain the material either through marginal jottings or separate reading notes. If you don't write something down while you're reading, your retention of it will be tenuous at best. On the same principle, I also encourage you to take notes on class presentations and discussions. Since class attendance is crucial to your ability to learn, absence from more than two classes without a viable excuse (serious illness or some other emergency) will adversely affect your grade.

Class Discussion Groups: Since this class meets only twice a week for little more than an hour, I will ask you to form small, informal discussion groups that will meet outside of class. The groups should consist of four to six students and should meet on the average of once a week (more often if you prefer) to discuss the texts and issues currently before the class. I will ask that one student at each session take informal minutes so that I have some idea of the content of your discussion. I plan to meet with each group sometime early in the semester so that I may have a chance to get to know you better.

Formal Papers: You will write three formal papers of about 6-8 pages over the course of the semester. I'll provide you with potential topics for each essay a few weeks in advance of the due date, but you should feel free to write on a text or topic of your own invention if the fancy strikes. I do ask that you let me know what you're planning to do to make sure the topic is appropriate. Papers must be typed or word processed, double spaced with sensible margins, and should be carefully proofread. They must be turned in on time unless you have a legitimate excuse for lateness (make sure you contact me before the deadline). Papers that are turned in late without such an excuse will be penalized half a grade for each day they are late.

Informal ('Prep') Papers: These are short (1-2 page) exercises designed to prepare you for class discussion. They need not be typed but they must be legible. These papers will not be graded, but they are required and I will keep them on file. Not turning them in could hurt your grade; doing an especially good job on them could raise your mark.

Reserve List: An extensive selection on the authors we will be reading, as well as on modernity and modernsit aesthetics, has been set up in the basement of Mudd Library. You should feel free to consult these works for help with the readings or guidance in researching paper topics.