Intimacy Matters: The Reform Aesthetic in Victorian America
HIST 326
Spring 2011 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
FGSS 326, AMST 326 |
This seminar examines the ways in which popular literature mapped the terrain of social reform in 19th-century America and explores the relationship between narratives grounded in a sentimental aesthetic one frequently gendered feminine and often produced by women and the transformation of the radical politics of the antebellum era into the genteel reforms of late Victorianism. Efforts by novelists to reshape popular attitudes and influence public policy toward disadvantaged groups will be juxtaposed to an analysis of the cultural empowerment that the production of such narratives conferred upon both writers and readers. |
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Essential Capabilities:
None |
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
None |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST)(FGSS) |
Major Readings:
Stephen Nissenbaum, THE BATTLE FOR CHRISTMAS
Richard Bushman, THE REFINEMENT OF AMERICA
Glenn Hendler, PUBLIC SENTIMENTS
Peggy Pascoe, RELATIONS OF RESCUE
Laura Wexler, TENDER VIOLENCE
Selected narratives by Lydia Maria Child, Frances Harper, Helen Hunt Jackson, Harriet Jacobs, Harriet Beecher Stowe.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Each student must submit weekly reading responses, participate in seminar discussions, make a brief class presentation on research or supplemental reading, and either undertake a major research paper/project due at the end of the term or write three shorter papers due at regular intervals during the term. |
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