EN 337 Victorian Marriage/Victorian Sex (Fall: 3)
Fulfills the pre-1900 requirement.
The Victorian era may call to mind strict gender roles and romantic novels
culminating in marriage. Yet this period also saw rampant prostitution,
feminist agitation for rights, and debates over competing definitions of
masculinity. This course explores the interrelation between Victorian literary
forms and nineteenth-century debates about gender and sexuality. Our focus
will be on fiction, most likely: Brontė's Jane Eyre, Eliot's Adam
Bede, Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret, and Hardy's Tess of
the D'Urbervilles. Along the way, we will encounter a wide range of
readings, from Sherlock Holmes stories to Victorian poetry, and from books
of household advice to pornography.
Maia McAleavey
Last Updated: 11-JAN-13