British Literature in the Age of Industrialism
Course Guidelines

“‘Reflect, if Art be in truth the higher life,
You need the lower life to stand upon
In order to reach up unto the higher'" (4.1206-08).
Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh (1856)


the basics / course goals / course overview / path 1 / path 2 / miscellany

THE BASICS

English 334: British Literature in the Age of Industrialism: 1832-1914 (4) GE C4
thematic touchstone: Reflection in Action
sections: section 01 (room 014.252, T/R, 9:10-11:00 a.m.); section 02 (room 022.220, T/R, 12:10-2:00 p.m.).
instructor: Dr. Paul Marchbanks
email: pmarchba@calpoly.edu
office: 805-756-2159 / building 47 (the "maze"), hallway 35, office A / available hours
home: 805-593-0192 (9 a.m. to 9 p.m.)


COURSE GOALS

• to promote close reading and analysis
• to augment student recognition of tone and voice
• to hone critical thinking, writing, and argumentation skills
• to deepen students' comfort with public speaking through poetry readings and class discussion
• to cull ideas from and analytical methods inspired by other fields (e.g. psychology, ethics, cultural anthropology) and employ them in literary analysis
• to encourage the technologically minded student to consider what literature might possibly accomplish better than other, faster means of conveying information
• to combine a socio-historicist and stylistic overview of the Victorian era with repeat consideration of the period's tendency to follow self-analysis with action.

COURSE OVERVIEW

Thomas Carlyle’s famous assertion that his era was more “self-conscious” than any previous age provides a useful lens through which to examine British society in not only 1831—the year he made this claim—but across the seven decades of social, political, and artistic self-examination that would follow.  The menagerie of writers bound together by the appellation “Victorian” shared more than a monarch.  Whether preoccupied with creating a more egalitarian society, anxious about the new challenges to religious faith brought by scientific and historical enquiry, or entranced by the alternatives to conventional morality presented by aestheticism, each of the writers on our syllabus shared a tendency to match introspection with behavioral and ideological change.  Course participants will tag along with select Victorians on this journey inwards, matching a sustained attention to these artisans’ distinctive voices and styles with widening awareness of the personal experiences and cultural milieu which inspired their works’ content.


PATH 1: In-Class Discussion and Exams

Materials (purchase these editions; correct pagination will facilitate class discussion)

• The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Third Edition, Volume 2B, 2006. ISBN: 0321333950
• The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Short Stories, Broadview Press, 2004. ISBN: 1551113562
• George Eliot’s Adam Bede (1859), Broadview Press, 2005. ISBN: 1551113643
• Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), Penguin Classics, 1985. ISBN: 0192807293
  

Assignments

• participation & class discussion (10%--2 grades of 5% each, awarded at 5 and 10 weeks; students most commonly earn 4-4.5 pts). Grades will be determined by: 1) frequency and quality of participation during class discussion and group activities, 2) apparent familiarity with Path 1 assigned readings, 3) timely arrival to class, complemented by infrequent departures during class, 4) turning off and avoiding use of cell phones, 5) staying abreast of course updates (check the website & your email regularly)
• pop quizzes (10%): ten orally delivered, randomly scheduled quizzes will be given, often (not always) composed of five questions each. Questions will occasionally draw from daily "points of reflection" posted before each day's meeting. Receiving 1 pt on a quiz requires correctly answering three of five questions, or, on an essay quiz, providing at least three detailed points to support your response. Quizzes can cover both the current day's materials and those from the previous class period. Missed quizzes cannot be made up at a later date.
• midterm exam (10%): an in-class exam composed of passage IDs and short answer questions. Thurs, Feb. 7.
• final exam (20%): a comprehensive evaluation composed of IDs, short answer questions, and one 450-500 word essay (a GWR opportunity). Date: Mar 17 (7:10-10:a.m.)
• attendance: given the brief duration of the quarter system, missing class will begin to hurt your grade almost immediately. You get two absences free--use them sparingly. Your third absence will cut 1 pt from your final grade, your fourth absence will cut 2 more pts from your final grade, your fifth absence will cut 4 more pts from your final grade, etc. In other words, 4 absences will remove 3 pts from your final grade, 5 absences will remove 7 pts from your final grade, 6 absences will remove 13 pts from your final grade, etc. Excused absences are difficult to come by. (Doctor visits, for instance, will not earn you an excused absence.)

PATH 2: Outside Research and Writing

Materials

• Group 1: Charlotte Brontë'
  • Jane Eyre (1847). Oxford, 2000. ISBN: 0192839659
• Group 2: Anne Brontë'
  • The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848). Oxford, 2005. ISBN: 0192834622
• Group 3: Elizabeth Barrett Browning
  • Aurora Leigh (Nov. 15, 1856). Norton Critical Edition, 1995. ISBN: 0393962989
• Group 4: Alfred Tennyson
  • The Idylls of the King (publ. in sections: 1859, 1869, 1871, 1872-74). Penguin, 1989. ISBN: 0140422536
• Group 5: George Eliot
  • The Mill on the Floss (1860). Broadview, 2007. ISBN: 1551114674
• Group 6: George Eliot
  • Felix Holt, The Radical (1866). Penguin Classics, 1995. ISBN: 0140434356
    

Assignments

• short essay responses (18% of grade, 6% each): each student will belong to a group of 3-6 students assigned to a list of weekly Path 2 readings. Students in a given group will engage their touchstone texts and each others’ ideas through short essays of 400-500 words. Multiple prompts will be provided each of the first six weeks, and students will respond by creating a total of three essays. These compact essays should be creative, focused, highly structured, and supported by appropriately detailed evidence. Essay responses are due on Blackboard by 11:59 p.m. the Saturday after an essay prompt has been assigned. Go here for strong sample essays. Students must complete their first essay during Wk 1 or Wk 2. Their second essay will be constructed in-class (date tba) and will cover Week 3 and Week 4 material; this essay will also constitute a GWR opportunity for those who need it. A third essay will be completed during Wk 5 or Wk 6. Please turn in essays the day they are due: late essays will lose 1 pt/day.
• small group office visits (9% of grade, 3% each): each student must participate in at least three half-hour, small group sessions during my office hours, one during Wks 1-2, a second during Wks 3-4. Each such session must include every member of your Path 2 group. Please go here to choose a block of time which works, then email me with your selection. Office visit scores reflect a few things: 1) timeliness of arrival, 2) whether one brings the book with her/him, 3) apparent familiarity with *all* of the pages assigned for that week, 4) the frequency with which one backs up claims with passages in the text which s/he asked everyone to turn to, 5) creativity and insight. You cannot meet with me the same week you complete a short essay, so plan accordingly.
• term paper prep (3%): students will construct a detailed outline (go here for samples) and a single page of their term paper, submit both items to a Wk 7 forum on Blackboard (the same place they post Path 2 essays), and attend a joint paper conference with me and two other members of their group (1 hr session) to discuss these two creations. Students who do not complete these three requirements CANNOT TURN IN THEIR TERM PAPER.
• term paper (20%): students will construct a 5-6 page argument that engages their Path 2 text(s). Due the end of Wk 8, by midnight on Sunday, Nov 18. Please turn in essays the day they are due: late essays will lose 5 pts/day.
• extra credit film discussion (1-2 pts added to final grade): students who choose to discuss film adaptations with Dr. Marchbanks following either a personal viewing on their own or the screening their Path 2 group schedules at my house can earn up to 1 or 2 pts--to be added into their final course average (a 3rd pt is possible, but rarely given). To maximize the credit earned, show up to the screening 5-10 minutes early (so we can start on time), bring your book, and know the book well enough to talk authoritatively about the filmmakers' interpretive choices.

MISCELLANY

Grading: go here for an elaboration of terms used below

Contact
Take advantage of my frequent availability throughout the week. Go here to find an open slot, then email me to reserve that time for an office visit. The fastest way to contact me if you have a quick question is via email. You can also reach me in my office at 805-756-2159, or in the evening (before 9 p.m.) at 593-0192.

Writing Lab Center
Experienced writers at the University Writing & Rhetoric Center offer free assistance with writing assignments for any course. Using this service will improve even the best writer’s output. Visit their website to schedule an appointment in advance of your desired date.

Plagiarism and the Honor Code
I encourage you to improve your writing with the help of peers, instructors, and myself. Remember, however, that all work you submit must be your own. Any paper containing borrowed but undocumented thoughts or words will receive a failing grade, and I am obligated to report all instances of plagiarism to the Vice President of Student Affairs. Let me know if you have further questions concerning this important issue.

"The Lady of Shalott" (1887-1905)
William Holman Hunt

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu