CANCELLED
This course explores the complex interrelationship between individual artistic
creation and the social role of the artist in Victorian England. The dynamic
interplay between aesthetic, social, political, and personal concerns will be
approached in two ways: by reading nineteenth-century poems, essays, and novels;
and by considering late-twentieth-century inquiries into the relation between
aesthetics and ethics, literature and public life, art and ideology. The Victorian
authors to be studied include Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, Matthew Arnold,
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Ruskin, George Eliot, and Oscar Wilde. We will
discuss how connections and tensions between literary, moral, and social values
shaped the form, technique, and content of their writings, and the author's
attitude toward the reader. Our reading will also serve as a lens through which
to consider present-day debates concerning art and morality, authorial agency,
readerly responsibility, cultural politics, and the role of imagination in public
life. Campus visits by one or two prominent contemporary poets or novelists
whose own work engages such issues will be integrated into the course, along
with some of their writings. The poet, Robert Pinsky, will visit during the
course of the semester. Requirements: two papers, a final exam, and regular
active participation in class discussion. Prerequisite: a 100-level English
course, except 150. Enrollment limited to 25, with preference given to English
majors and Leadership Studies concentrators. (1800-1900/1700-1900)