The Impersonating "I": Self and Narrative in
Victorian Literature
This course will examine the many uses of first-person narrative in Victorian literature, from the "autobiographical novel" such as Great Expectations or Jane Eyre to the dramatic monologues of Robert Browning, from "non-fictional" autobiography to the many imaginative uses of autobiographical techniques in fictional narratives. What kinds of selves are imagined through the strategic deployment of the first person? What does it mean to "cross-dress," narrating from a gendered position the author does not hold? What does it mean to incorporate multiple perspectives, as in Frankenstein or Wuthering Heights, or to undercut the narrative persona, as Carlyle does in Sartor Resartus? Finally,
what is the relationship between "straight" autobiography, that favorite form of the Victorian sage (J.S. Mill will be our primary example), and first-person fiction? We will end the course with an examination of a 20th-century neo-Victorian text, A.S. Byatt’s Possession, which raises issues of impersonation and ventriloquism for the critic as well as the creative writer.
While the major work of the class will be discussing the literary texts, I will also provide a bibliography for supplemental reading which will provide historical context, connections to other writers of the time, theoretical analyses of autobiography and fiction, and contemporary critical reviews of the works. Your task will be to read the works (including supplemental readings, when required), and to come to class prepared for informed discussion. This is not a lecture class! You will also each present three oral reports, one on a primary text for the class, another on a primary text of your choice (one not assigned for general reading) and the third on a secondary reading of your choice (more on that later). Finally, you will turn in an annotated bibliography, paper proposal, and finally a substantially research analytical paper, of about 20 – 25 pages, by the end of the semester.
Required Texts:
Autobiography. John Stuart Mill.
Sartor Resartus. Thomas Carlyle
In Memoriam. Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Jane Eyre. Charlotte Brontë
Great Expectations. Charles Dickens
Aurora Leigh. Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Frankenstein. Mary Shelley.
The Moonstone. Wilkie Collins.
Men and Women and Other Poems. Robert Browning.
Wuthering Heights. Emily Bronte.
Possession: A Romance. A.S. Byatt.