Study of selected major figures and important topics of the 19th century, with attention to American and European cross influences. With a different subheading, may be taken twice for credit. Designated topics focus on significant scholarly issues and concerns relevant to the literature of the nineteenth century. Close reading of primary texts assigned in conjunction with the designated topic and extensive reading in relevant secondary texts, including those providing historical, cultural, social and political backgrounds and contexts as well as those providing a variety of critical and theoretical approaches to the literature of the period.
Students gain familiarity of the relevant scholarship.
The course is conducted as a seminar, directed by a member of the English Department's graduate faculty with expertise in the nineteenth century and whose role is essentially that of consultant. The seminar meets weekly. While seminar meetings afford students the opportunity to take responsibility for much of their learning and to engage both with their peers and with the instructor in the kind of scholarly discourse characteristic of the discipline, the greatest emphasis is on independent study and research done outside the classroom. In consultation with the instructor students develop an extended research project culminating most commonly in one or more formal scholarly papers developing an original thesis and conforming in style and format to the guidelines of the Modern Language Association. Students are encouraged to submit such papers for publication in professional journals or, if opportunity affords, for presentation at a professional conference.