English 658 Seminar: Lawrence and Woolf Cushman

Teaching Strategies: This course is primarily devoted to the study of the writings of D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf, with emphasis on the evolution of their careers. We will read these two writers’ major novels, as well as poems by Lawrence and stories by Woolf. The course will feature a few lectures on the biographical and cultural background and on the intersections of Lawrence and Woolf as modernist authors. But most classes will be devoted to extensive discussion of the writings of Lawrence and Woolf.

We will also read and discuss Geoff Dyer’s “Out of Sheer Rage” and Michael Cunningham’s

The Hours: contemporary works that demonstrate the ongoing cultural currency of Lawrence

and Woolf.

Oral Presentations: I will divide the class into six pairs of students (with Laura Savu a pair unto

herself). Each pair will make a twenty-five-minute presentation about a chapter or section of

one of our works (or in one case, about a Woolf story).

Evaluation Methods and Guidelines for Assignments:

Short essay on Lawrence or Woolf 20%

Presentation 20%

Final paper 30%

Take-home final 30%

Learning Goals:

To explore, analyze, and understand the major novels of D. H. Lawrence, along

with a sampling of his major poetry.

To explore, analyze, and understand the major novels of Virginia Woolf, along

with a sampling of her stories.

To approach the major works of Lawrence and Woolf using a variety of critical

methodologies.

To discuss the major works of Lawrence and Woolf in the context of literary

modernism.

To consider the ongoing currency of Lawrence and Woolf by reading and discussing

contemporary works that draw on their literary and cultural legacies.

August 21 Introductory

28 Lawrence: Poetry I / Sons and Lovers

September 4 Sons and Lovers / Poetry II

11 The Rainbow

18 Women in Love

25 Women in Love / Poetry III

October 2 Lady Chatterley’s Lover [Lawrence essay due]

9 Poetry IV / Dyer, “Out of Sheer Rage”: In the Shadow of D. H. Lawrence

16 Special event at KC’s house (dinner included): Collecting D. H. Lawrence

23 Woolf stories: “An Unwritten Novel,” “Kew Gardens,” “The Mark on the Wall”

30 Jacob’s Room

November 6 Mrs. Dalloway

13 Mrs. Dalloway / To the Lighthouse

20 To the Lighthouse [Woolf essay due]

27 Thanksgiving

December 4 Cunningham, The Hours / Ph. D. paper presentation (Savu)

10 Reading Day

13 Paper due

16 Take-home final due

Office hours: McIver 204

Thursday 2-4 or by appointment

Assignments for Presentation Pairs

11 September The Rainbow “Cathedral”

18 September Women in Love “Moony”

25 September Women in Love “Death and Love”

2 October Lady Chatterley Chapter XV

23 October “The String Quartet”

6 November Mrs. Dalloway “What are they looking at? said Clarissa Dalloway

[through] seeing the delicate pink face of the woman who was that very night to give a party ; of

Clarissa Dalloway; of herself.

13 November To the Lighthouse “The Window,” Section XIX

20 November To the Lighthouse “The Lighthouse,” Section V