Mary Wollstonecraft’s novel Mary, or The Wrongs of Woman, in relation to her Vindication of the Rights of Woman

The Godwins and the Shelleys

Radical Themes and Literary Forms

Jennifer Keith

ENG 644 Studies in Romanticism

MCVR 138 Thursday, 6:30-9:20

Office hours: MCVR 120, Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:00-1:00 and 3:30-4:00

tel.: 334-4692; e-mail: jmkeith@uncg.edu

We begin with William St. Clair’s The Godwins and the Shelleys: A Biography of a Family as a foundation for tracing the first and second generations of Romantic writers. We will examine how radical themes (e.g., rights, revolution, and the imagination) inter-react with a range of literary forms, from Gothic and detective novels, to lyrical ballads, to prophetic odes.

Texts

Blake, William. Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Oxford color facsimile)

Godwin, William. Caleb Williams (Broadview)

Norton Anthology of English Literature, vol. 2

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. A Norton Critical Edition

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. Poetry and Prose. A Norton Critical Edition

St. Clair, William. The Godwins and the Shelleys: A Biography of a Family

Wollstonecraft, Mary. Mary and Maria; and Mary Shelley, Matilda

e-reserve: primary and secondary texts as indicated below

Jan. 16 Introduction

23 Day, Romanticism (pp. 1-78) (Reserve); St. Clair, 1-140; selections from Political Justice in Godwin’s Caleb Williams (pp. 483-98); Blake, “The Divine Image” (Innocence) “The Chimney Sweeper” (Innocence and Experience), “Holy Thursday” (Innocence and Experience), “London,” “The Human Abstract” (both in Experience)

30 Caleb Williams (vols. 1 and 2); McCracken, “Godwin’s Literary Theory” (e-reserve)

Feb. 6 Caleb Williams (vol. 3); Scheiber, “Falkland’s Story” (e-reserve)

13 St. Clair 141-88; Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Norton 163-92); Maria; Johnson, “Mary Wollstonecraft’s Novels” (e-reserve)

20 no class (conference)

27 no class (conference)

March 6 St. Clair 221-237; W. Wordsworth, Preface to Lyrical Ballads, “Simon Lee,” “Tintern Abbey,” “Resolution and Independence,” “The Solitary Reaper” (all in Norton); D. Wordsworth, selections from the Alfoxden journal and the Grasmere journals (Norton 385-97); “Floating Island”(handout)

13 no class (Spring Break)

20 Coleridge, “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” “Christabel,” selections from Biographia Literaria (Norton 467-86); Modiano, “Word and ‘Languageless’ Meanings: Limits of Expression in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”; Byron, Manfred (Norton)

27 St. Clair, 315-442; M. Shelley, Frankenstein; Gilbert and Gubar, “Mary Shelley’s Monstrous Eve” (Norton critical edition, 225-40); Clifford, “Caleb Williams and Frankenstein” (e-reserve)

April 3 M. Shelley, Matilda (in Wollstonecraft and Shelley) and “The Mortal Immortal” (e-reserve); Mellor, Mary Shelley: Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monsters, pp. 191-201 (e-reserve); Francois and Mozes, “Don’t Say ‘I Love You’” (e-reserve); Hofkosh, “Disfiguring Economies” (e-reserve)

10 St. Clair 443-95 ; P. B. Shelley, “To Wordsworth,” “The Mask of Anarchy,” “England in 1819,” “Sonnet: To the Republic of Benevento”; Cafarelli, “The Transgressive Double Standard”; Wolfson, “Poetic Form and Political Reform”(all in the Norton critical edition of Shelley); P. B. Shelley, chapter 1, A Philosophical View of Reform (e-reserve)

17 P. B. Shelley, “Mont Blanc,” “Ode to the West Wind,” “To a Sky-Lark,” “Sonnet (Lift not the painted veil),” “Song of Apollo,” “Song of Pan,” “With a Guitar. To Jane,” “On Love,” “On Life,” A Defence of Poetry; Wasserman, “The Poetry of Skepticism”; Cameron, “Philosophy, Religion, and Ethics”; Keach, “[Mont Blanc]” (all in the Norton critical edition of Shelley)

24 Writing workshop

May 1 Seminar paper due

8 Presentations of creative projects

Attendance Policy: Excellent attendance is expected in a graduate seminar. Please inform me if you will be unable to attend class because you are participating in a conference or are seriously ill.

Academic Integrity: Familiarize yourself with the Honor Code of the university to be sure that you avoid committing plagiarism. If at any time you have questions about plagiarism—the use of someone else’s ideas or words without indicating their source—please feel free to discuss the matter with me.

Your final grade: Class participation 20%

Discussion question 15%

Creative project 25%

Seminar paper 40%

Reserve Readings

Primary Texts

Shelley, Mary. “The Mortal Immortal” (e-reserve)

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. A Philosophical View of Reform (chapter 1, e-reserve)

General

Barrell, John. The Dark Side of the Landscape (ND466.B28)

Botting, Fred. Gothic (PR830.T3 B68 1996)

Butler, Marilyn. Romantics, Rebels, and Reactionaries (PR447.B8 1982)

Chandler, James, ed. Cambridge History of Romanticism (on order)

Curran, Stuart, ed. Cambridge Companion to British Romanticism (PR457.C33 1993)

Day, Aidan. Romanticism (PR457.D38 1996)

Feldman, Paula & Theresa M. Kelley, eds. Romantic Women Writers (PR457.R4568 1995)

Gaull, Marilyn. English Romanticism: The Human Context (PR590.G38 1988)

Kelly, Gary. English Fiction of the Romantic Period (on order)

Klancher, Jon P. The Making of English Reading Audiences (Z1003.5 G7 K57 1987)

Thompson, E. P. The Making of the English Working Class (HD8388 .T47)

Studies of Individual Authors

Averill, James. Wordsworth and the Poetry of Human Suffering (PR5892.S93 A94)

Bennett, Betty, ed. Mary Shelley in Her Times (PR5398.M27 2000)

Brown, Nathaniel. Sexuality and Feminism in [P.B.] Shelley (PR5442.S47 B76)

Clifford, “Caleb Williams and Frankenstein” (e-reserve)

Ferguson, Frances. “Shelley’s Mont Blanc: What the Mountain Said” (e-reserve)

Ferguson, Frances. Wordsworth: Language as Counter-Spirit (PR5888 F37)

Fisch, Audrey, ed. The Other Mary Shelley: Beyond Frankenstein (PR5398.O87 1993)

Francois and Mozes, “Don’t Say ‘I Love You’” (e-reserve)

Hofkosh, “Disfiguring Economies” (e-reserve)

Johnson, Claudia L. ed. The Cambridge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft (PR5841.W8 Z64 2002)

Keach, William C. [P. B.] Shelley’s Style (PR5444 .K4 1984PR5444 .K4 1984)

McCracken, David. “Godwin’s Literary Theory: The Alliance between Fiction and Political Philosophy” Philological Quarterly 49 (1970): 113-33 (e-reserve)

Mellor, Anne K. Mary Shelley: Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monsters (PR5398.M4 1988) (pp. 191-201 on e-reserve)

Modiano, Raimonda, “Word and ‘Languageless’ Meanings: Limits of Expression in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (e-reserve)

Scheiber, Andrew J. “Falkland’s Story: Caleb Williams’s Other Voice” Studies in the Novel 17 (1985): 255-66 (PN3311.S82) (e-reserve)

Scrivener, Michael Henry. Radical Shelley (PR5442.P5 S35 1982)

Thorslev, Peter L. The Byronic Hero: Types and Prototypes (PR4389.T45 1962)

Todd, Janet. Mary Wollstonecraft: A Revolutionary Life (PR5841.W8Z63 2000)

ENG 644 Learning Goals

This version of Studies in Romanticism--The Godwins and the Shelleys: Radical Themes and Literary Forms—is designed specifically to help graduate students learn

--to develop intellectual independence and aesthetic pleasure and self-consciousness in reading literature

--to understand the relation of particular texts to the culture and category of Romanticism

--to read critically literary and cultural criticism

--to approach literature and criticism from a pedagogical perspective, leading the class in a discussion question you have composed

--to consider issues of form and theme creatively and analytically, culminating in a creative project and a seminar paper of publishable quality

Discussion Questions

30 Caleb Williams (vols. 1 and 2); McCracken, “Godwin’s Literary Theory” (e-reserve)

Feb. 6 Caleb Williams (vol. 3); Scheiber, “Falkland’s Story” (e-reserve)

13 St. Clair 141-88; Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Norton 163-92 ); Maria; Johnson, “Mary Wollstonecraft’s Novels” (e-reserve)

April 3 M. Shelley, Matilda (in Wollstonecraft and Shelley) and “The Mortal Immortal” (e-reserve); Mellor, Mary Shelley: Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monsters, pp. 191-201; Francois and Mozes, “Don’t Say ‘I Love You’” (e-reserve); Hofkosh, “Disfiguring Economies” (e-reserve)

10 St. Clair 443-95; P. B. Shelley, “To Wordsworth,” “The Mask of Anarchy,” “England in 1819,” “Sonnet: To the Republic of Benevento,” chapter 1, A Philosophical View of Reform (e-reserve); Cafarelli, “The Transgressive Double Standard”; Wolfson, “Poetic Form and Political Reform” (all in the Norton critical edition of Shelley)

Snack Sign-up Sheet

Jan. 23

Feb. 6

March 6

April 3

May 1