ENGL 537

Fall 2012 All Classes

All Classes

Seminar Victorian Lit

Credit: 4 hours.

May be repeated if topics vary. Prerequisite: A college course devoted entirely to an aspect of Victorian studies or consent of instructor.

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ENGL 537 class schedule data for fall 2012
	CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
	30193	Lecture-Discussion	E	1:00PM -2:50PM	W	123 English Building	Courtemanche, E	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/27/12-12/12/12 Section Title: Victorian Utopias Section Info: Topic Section E: Machine Dreams: Victorian Utopias One of the most surprising things about Victorian utopias is that so many of them actually came to pass. From the link between urban hub and suburban idyll made possible by mass transit, to universal consumerism, the socialist welfare state, international communism, and the solution of the ?Jewish problem? through the creation of the state of Israel, many of the most far-fetched dreams of Victorian radicals became everyday realities in the following centuries. In this class, we will consider the British tradition of neo-medieval futurism (Thomas Carlyle?s Past and Present, John Ruskin?s The Stones of Venice, William Morris?s News from Nowhere), social planning through architecture (Charles Dickens?s Oliver Twist, Emile Zola?s The Ladies? Paradise, Walter Benjamin?s arcades, Robert Owen?s co-operative factories, and Charles Fourier?s phalansteries), technocracy (Theodor Herzl?s Old-New Land, Edward Bellamy?s Looking Backward, and H. G. Wells?s A Modern Utopia), class struggle (Elizabeth Gaskell?s North and South and Marx and Engels?s The Communist Manifesto), and the neo-Victorian genre of steampunk (William Gibson?s The Difference Engine), as well as secondary criticism. Class requirements will include a class presentation, a seminar paper, and several writing and public speaking exercises. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.