ENGL 399 Outline 2016/17 Winter Charlotte Bronte

COURSE NUMBER:

ENGL 399C

COURSE TITLE:

Special Topics in English - 2016/17 Winter: Charlotte Bronte in Context

NAME OF INSTRUCTOR:

Dr. Allison Fieldberg

CREDIT WEIGHT AND WEEKLY TIME DISTRIBUTION:

credits 3(hrs lect 3 - hrs sem 0 - hrs lab 0)

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

A course on a topic of figure of special interest to a member of the English faculty and offered on a non-recurring basis.

Prerequisites: ENGL 204, 205

2016/17 Winter

This course considers the major works of Charlotte Brontë, focusing on Jane Eyre and Villette. It also considers her sister Anne’s major novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. We will also refer to, but not study in detail, Emily’s novel Wuthering Heights. While there are other texts to read, I choose these texts because the rich and well-documented biographical context of these novels makes them particularly well-suited to a course focused on historical, literary biography.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Brontë, Anne. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre.
Brontë, Charlotte. Villette.
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights.

MARK DISTRIBUTION IN PERCENT:

In-class essay	30%
Short research essay	20%
Long research essay	30%
Take home exam	20%
Discussion paper	10%

	100%

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

To develop your critical reading capacity through intensive study.
To extend your writing and communication skills through a variety of assignments.
To familiarize you with the key texts, writers, and topics of the English literary tradition.
To introduce a set of critical tools (including significant literary terms and critical approaches to texts) which you will develop as you continue your literary studies.
To encourage students to read both sympathetically and critically within a Christian framework.

COURSE OUTLINE:

This course considers the major works of Charlotte Brontë, focusing on Jane Eyre and Villette. It also considers her sister Anne’s major novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. We will also refer to, but not study in detail, Emily’s novel Wuthering Heights. While there are other texts to read, I choose these texts because the rich and well-documented biographical context of these novels makes them particularly well-suited to a course focused on historical, literary biography.

We will read these novels in detail, but spend as much time considering the life histories of the Brontë sisters and their family as we spend reading their novels. We will peruse Charlotte’s letters in detail, as they relate to the novels. We will also examine Victorian and contemporary biographies on the sisters, and other material that relates to the lives of these extraordinary nineteenth-century writers.

The course outline is as follows:

January Jane Eyre
February The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
March Villette
April Review of central questions in scholarly biography

As mentioned, we will also refer to Wuthering Heights, so students are advised to read this novel whilst they read the others.

This is, of course, a bare-bones outline. Throughout the course, we will read excerpts of Charlotte’s letters, Victorian and contemporary biographies, and other material that relates to these texts. What “extra” material we read will be determined by our class discussions and student interest, as well as what arises organically in the broader field of Brontë historical scholarship. We will also review audiovisual materials (such as films etc.) that consider these texts. As such, consider this an immersion course in the world of the Brontës, as opposed to a novel study course.

We will consider such questions as:

What is the value of reading?
How do various texts and genres conceive of the relationship between writer, narrator, and reader?
What is the connection between formal literary experimentation and a writer’s wider aesthetic aims?
What are some possible relations between form and content?
How do we move towards an analytical response to literary biography?

Required texts, assignments, and grade distributions may vary from one offering of this course to the next. Please consult the course instructor for up to date details.