Required Materials
Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White
Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley's Secret
Thomas Hardy, Tess of The D'Urbervilles
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Copy Packet

Course Description
We in the highly sexed early 21st century often  assume that the Victorians were quite a prudish lot.  We tend to think of quiet tea parties where frank discussions about anything, least of all sex, were strictly taboo.  The Victorians, it is assumed, said "white meat" instead of "breast"; Victorian women only thought of sex as a means to producing children and caged themselves from neck to foot in stiff crinoline and whalebone.  Was this true?  Were the Victorians scandalized by even the very mention of sex or of sexual desire?  How "Victorian" were their ideas about love and sex before and after marriage?  How was sexual desire thought to be divided along gender lines?  What were Victorian assumptions about female or male sexuality?  What were Victorian attitudes about  gay or lesbian desire?

This course will examine the often complex attitudes about love and sex in Victorian Britain and seek to test the assumption that the Victorian age was simply a repressed one, in which all natural sexual feelings were regarded as sinful.  Afterall, the Victorian age also saw an explosion of scientific and psychological thinking on the very nature of human love and sexuality.  We will therefore take an interdisciplinary look at Victorian ideas about sex and love as reflected in literature and other cultural works, such as art works, travel narratives, pamphlets, essays, and trial proceedings.

Course Requirements
Literary Essay paper 25%
Response papers 30%
    Response One
    Response Two
    Response Three
    Theory Response
Presentation 10%
Quizzes 5%
Final 20%
Participation 10%

Literary Essay
You will have the opportunity to write a literary analysis (4-6 pages) on the literature we will cover.
During the 13th week of the class, you will meet with me for a 20-minute or so conference of your Literary Essay topic.

Response Papers
Essay Response Papers
There are  three response papers, one due about every fourth  week. Every four  weeks you will receive a response question handout with questions taken from the upcoming reading assignments. You are to respond to any one day’s questions from the list. Response questions must be typed, double-spaced and turned in on the day that you have selected. For example, answers to questions from February 11th’s reading must be turned in on that day.

Theory  Response Paper
There will also be a theory response paper, in which you are to respond to a specific reading in the packet.  This paper is due on April 22

Papers are due in class on the assigned date. Late papers will be subject to a reduction in grade. If you feel you have a good reason for requiring an extension, please come talk to me about it beforehand. However, after-due date extensions, except in the case of emergencies, will be difficult to obtain.

Avoid plagiarism (stealing the exact words or ideas of another) like the plague. In this class acts of plagiarism incur a zero and could also result in course failure.

Presentation
At some point early in the semester I will divide the class up into four groups.  Each group will then be given the task of putting together an oral presentation, due at several-week intervals throughout the semester.  Each presentation will be devoted on a specific topic.  (See the Calendar for specific topics)  Each presentation should last no more than 12 minutes and must include at least one handout to be given to the class as a whole.  Beyond the handout, the materials and format of the presentations are only limited by the group's imagination and may include use of a variety of media.

Exams
In addition to a cumulative final exam, there will be three short surprise quizzes given throughout the semester.  These are intended merely to give friendly encouragement to keep up with the assigned reading in class (not always an easy task given the length of the average Victorian triple-volume).

Participation
Regular attendance of classes is absolutely expected for this course. Five or more unexcused absences will lower your participation grade significantly.

Calendar
Week 1
January 23: Introduction.

January 25: Matthew Arnold, "The Buried Life," "To Marguerite"

Week 2
January 28: George Meredith selections from Modern Love

January 30: Alfred, Lord Tennyson selections from Maud and In Memoriam;

February 1: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, continued

Week 3
February 4: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, selections from Sonnets from the Portuguese

February 6: Robert Browning, "My Last Duchess," "Porphyria's Lover"

February 8: Pre-Raphaelite Day

Week 4
February 11: Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White (read to pg. 184, beginning of Marian's diary)

February 13: Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White
Oral Presentation: Assumption on Gender Differences and Sex

February 15: Lincoln's Birthday

Week 5
February 18: Washington's Birthday

February 20: Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White (read to pg. 324, Chapter VIII of Marian's diary)

February 22: Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White (read to pg. 498)
Student Response: The "Marriage Plot" in The Woman in White
(warning:  reveals details about the ending)

Week 6
February 25: Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White (read to end)

February 27: Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White

March 1: Harriet Martineau, "The Hareem" from Eastern Life, Past and Present
Student Response: Harriet Martineau's The Hareem from Eastern Life, Past and Present

Week 7
March 4: Henry Mayhew, "Prostitutes in London" from London Labour and the London Poor

March 6: Henry Mayhew, continued

March 8: Oral Presentation: Prostitution
Thomas Hardy, Tess of The D'Urbervilles (read to  pg 100)

Week 8
March 11: Thomas Hardy, Tess of The D'Urbervilles (read to pg. 200)

Student Response: Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Alec and Tess

March 13: Thomas Hardy, Tess of The D'Urbervilles

March 15: Thomas Hardy, Tess of The D'Urbervilles (read to pg. 305)

Week 9
March 18:  Thomas Hardy, Tess of The D'Urbervilles

March 20: Thomas Hardy, Tess of The D'Urbervilles (read to end)

March 22: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, selections

Week 10
Spring Break

Week 11
April 1:  Christina Rossetti, "Goblin Market"

April 3: Christina Rossetti, "Goblin Market"

April 5: Oral Presentation: Marriage and Courtship
Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley's Secret (read to pg. 121)

Week 12
April 8: Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley's Secret (read to pg. 227)
 

April 10: Mary Elizabeth Braddon,  Lady Audley's Secret Class held in Library Rm 263

April 12: Mary Elizabeth Braddon,  Lady Audley's Secret (read to pg. 326)
Student Response:  Victorian Manliness in Lady Audley's Secret

Week 13 Paper Conference week: sign up for a conference
April 15: Mary Elizabeth Braddon,  Lady Audley's Secret  (read to end)
Student Response:Robert and George’s Relationship in Lady Audley’s Secret

April 17: Mary Elizabeth Braddon,  Lady Audley's Secret

April 19: Algernon Charles Swinburne, selections

Week 14
April 22: Theory Response Paper due.
Michel Foucault "We 'Other Victorians'" from The History of Sexuality Volume I
A Synopsis of "We 'Other Victorians'"
Student Summary:  Foucault's "'We 'Other Victorians'"

April 24: Edward Carpenter, "Homogenic Love"
 

April 26: The Trial of Oscar Wilde (excerpts)

Week 15
April 29: Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (read to pg. 59)
Oral Presentation:  Gay and Lesbian Sexuality

May 1: Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (read to pg. 117)

May 3: Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (read to pg. 175)

Week 16
May 6: Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

May 8: Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (read to end)

Exam Week
Final exam: Wednesday, May 15th, 12:30-2:30
Research Essay Paper  Due:  May 15, 2002

A Bibliography on Sex and Love in the Victorian Age

Some Useful Links
Literature:
The Victorian Web
The Victorian Research Web
Victorian Literature
19th-Century Sensation Fiction

Gay and Lesbian Sexuality:
Gay History and Literature

Sex and Culture:
An Introduction to Freudian Psychology