This seminar will look at representative plays in the major genres, paying particular attention to the social and political contexts in which they were produced.
Romanticism remains a dense and intriguing, even perplexing, phenomenon in literary history.
Nineteenth century fiction predicts Freud s work in many ways, not the least in the connections it seeks between narrative and desire. And the narrative object of desire is frequently a woman, or the representation of a woman i.e., the portrait of a lady. This course will examine the relations between desire, gender identity, and narrative in a selection of nineteenth century novels. This course will explore the work of Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller, and Whitman. We will be concerned with the main ideas that emerge from this subset of romanticism, with particular attention to the intersection of literature, philosophy, and social issues.