Wendy Moffat                                                                                     EC405

Spring 2005                                                                                        9 T TH

Office: 310 EC                                   

x1499; moffat@dickinson.edu

Hours: T 1:30-3:30; W 11:30-12:30 and by appt.

 

 

 

 

English 349: The Bloomsbury Group

 

 

Required Texts:

Quentin Bell, Virginia Woolf, (HBJ)

E. M. Forster, A Passage to India (Harvest)

            Howards End (Harvest)

S. P. Rosenbaum, The Bloomsbury Group (Toronto)

Lytton Strachey, Eminent Victorians (Modern Library)

Virginia Woolf, Moments of Being (ed. Schulkind) (Harcourt)

            Mrs. Dalloway (HBJ)

            To the Lighthouse (HBJ)

 

Recommended:

Furbank, E,M. Forster: A Life (Harcourt and Brace)

Keynes, Essays in Persuasion (Norton)

Lee, Virginia Woolf (Vintage)

Shone, The Art of Bloomsbury (Princeton)

Reed, A Roger Fry Reader (Chicago)

Spalding, Vanessa Bell (Pimlico)

 

 

 

Course Description and Method:

 

The Bloomsbury Group is the name literary critics have assigned a group of friends--writers, visual artists, and activists--who forged British modernism in a variety of forms at the turn of the 20th century.  The name comes from an area in London, near the University of London, where they moved as young adults to live independently and communally. Some of the members later repudiated the name, or the group, but not the concept of a Òcircle of friends.Ó We will read fiction and non-fiction, look at art, and discuss the politics of these intellectuals. Bloomsbury is simultaneously a personal construction--full of gossip, ephemera, and friendships-- and a social and intellectual phenomenon--a new way to understand the world, to shape society, to explore sexuality, and to collaborate in the creative arts. The course is deigned to balance a comprehensive view of these people and their ideas with the chance to delve deeply into some aspects of Bloomsbury which most interest you. We will emphasize both content and research methods for this interdisciplinary course.

 

 

 

 

Reading Schedule:

 

Jan       25(T)   Syllabus Review and In-Class Essay

            27        Woolf, To The Lighthouse (I)

 

Feb.     1 (T)    TTL, II; Selection from Rosenbaum _____________________

 

            3          Strachey, ÒFlorence NightingaleÓ _______________________

 

            8 (T)    TTL (end) ; Woolf letters __________________________

 

            10        Woolf, ÒModern FictionÓ___________________ and

 

                        ÒMr. Bennett and Mrs. BrownÓ _________________________

 

            15 (T)  Forster, Howards End (I)

 

            17        HE (II); Forster letters ______________________________

 

            22 (T)  Forster: ÒWhat I BelieveÓ_________________; ÒToleranceÓ_______________

 

            24        Survey paper due on Woolf, Strachey, or Forster: Discussion

 

Mar.    1(T)     HE (end)

            3          Bell and Grant paintings

 

            8 (T)    The Post -impressionist Show of 1910

 

            10        Fry: Post Impressionist Essays ____________;  and The Double Nature of

           

                        PaintingÓ _____________________

Spring Break

 

            22 (T)  Woolf, Moments of Being   

                        _________________________    __________________________

 

            24        Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway (I)

 

            29 (T)  Mrs. Dalloway (II) Rosenbaum selection _________________________

 

            31        Mrs. Dalloway (end)

 

Apr.     5 (T)    Keynes, ÒThe End of Laissez FaireÓ ______________________ and

 

                        ÒThe capacity of Germany to Pay ReparationsÓ ______________________

           

           

            7 No class: Narrative Conference, Louisville, KY

 

 

Apr.     12 (T)  Forster, A Passage to India (I)

           

            14        Passage, II

 

            19 (T)  el-Adl and Kanaya notebook ____________________;  and

 

                        Hill of Devi __________________________

 

            21        Annotated Bibliographies Due: Discussion of Methodological Questions

 

            26 (T) Passage (end)

 

            28        Woolf, Three Guineas (I) ___________________________

 

May     3 (T)    Three Guineas (end)

            5 Evaluations

 

Research paper due: Monday, May 9th 5pm.

 

Grading:

Your work will be evaluated in the following proportions:

 

Speaking and Leading Discussion:            

            Teaching a short text 20%

            Blackboard contributions, attendance, quality of participation in discussion, preparation       for all classes 10%

 

Writing: Paper : review of criticism or critical question (5-7 pp.)  20%

               Annotated bibliography  (15-20 sources) 20%

                Research paper (15-20 pp) 30%

 

 

Please read the MLA Handbook for Research Writers (Gibaldi) chapter on plagiarism, and understand the college policies on plagiarism. I will report cases of suspected plagiarism.