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GarrettEnglish 560 Spring 2010 1

English 560: Nationalism and Literature

in Nineteenth-Century Britain

Prof. Jim Garrett

Office: E & T A608

Office Hours: Monday 4:30-6:00, Wednesday 12:30-1:30 and by appt.Phone: (323) 343-4163

Email: [email protected]

Course web site: http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/jgarret/560n (available no later than March 15)

Course Information

Prerequisites: ENGL 501 and ENGL 502.

Description: Research into nationalism has focused primarily on the emergence of twentieth-century

nation-states out of the wreckage of nineteenth-century European colonialism. Central to much

thinking on nations is Benedict Andersons identification of nations as imagined communities, not

always co-equal with the physical geography of the modern nation. While Anderson is primarilyconcerned with how the colonial state imagines the other, the institutions of power he identifies

were first used not on the peripheries of empire but at its center. The first object of national self-

definition was not them, but us, the citizens, land, culture, and history of the British nation.

In this course we will read theorists and historians on the nation, nationalism, and national identity,

and focus our examination on texts produced in the last few decades of the eighteenth century and

the first half of the nineteenth-century. The reading will draw on a variety of genres and will focus on

works by Wordsworth, Coleridge, Scott, Barbauld, Austen, Cowley, Inchbald, and Dickens.

Requirements of the course include a seminar presentation, short weekly response papers, class

participation, and a seminar paper.

Objectives: Students in ENGL 560 (Nationalism and Literature) will learn to Understand some of the basic theories of nationalism, nation-formation, and national identity

specifically as they apply to England and Britain in the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-

century;

Understand the mutual relationship between the concept of the nation and competingnational identities and literary form and production, specifically the effect of competition

with France, the French Revolution, industrialism, and urbanism on ideas of citizenship and

citizenry;

Understand the essential role of literary texts in imagining the nation and its citizens; Understand the emergence of historicism and the use and invention of history and tradition

in shaping the idea of the nation and national identity;

Engage in critical discussions of language and literature; Continue development on becoming better readers, writers and thinkers through frequent

discussions, examinations, presentations and writing tasks.

Continue improving the ability to think critically about texts (in whatever form encountered).

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Ultimately, each of us must consider the acts of reading and writing as ways of making the world, of

making it cohere or come apart, of inscribing it with purpose and meaning.

Course Requirements: Listed below are the required assignments for this course:

Seminar Presentation (15% of your grade):A seminar presentation is a 15-20 minutepresentation to the rest of the class about an assigned reading. For the presentation, plan to

go beyond regular class preparation, at the very least, providing background about your

topic, a generous overview, and a discussion of its relation to other readings for that week

(or read earlier). You should also be prepared to answer questions and help lead class

discussion for that topic. You should prepare a handout for the class; however, do notsimply read from your prepared handout or paper.

Seminar Paper (50% of your grade):(approximately 15+ pages in length) (proposal,annotated bibliography and final draft constitute 50% of course grade)

Weekly Response Papers (30% of your grade): Each response paper is a 1-2 pageresponse to the readings assigned for the week. Use the keyword associated with the

weeks reading to focus your attention on one or more of the readings. You must complete

six weekly responses.

Participation (5%):I expect full participation from all members of the class. Absences orfailure to prepare are unacceptable. You will be graded on the following scale

5 points for being fully prepared and offering frequent and insightful comments in class

4 points for being well prepared and participating in discussion several times/class

3 points for being somewhat or superficially prepared and participating in discussionoccasionally (once or twice/class)

0-2 points for absences, failure to participate significantly in class discussion

In order to pass this course all assignments (papers and exams) must be legitimatelyattempted. Plagiarism (see description below) does NOT constitute a legitimate attempt of the

assignment.

Policies

Grading Policy:The distribution of points for the individual assignments in this course is listed in

Requirements above. Course grades are based on standard percentages (i.e. 90% and greater is

some version of an A, 80%-89% is some version of a B and so on). Plus and minus grades are used

in the class.

Electronic Devices: Please turn off all computers, cell phones, pagers, portable radios, televisions,

computers, MP3/CD/Disc/Mini-disc players, and any other electronic communication and/orentertainment devices before coming to class. Please do not use telephones, text messaging, instant

messaging, IRC, email, snail mail, carrier pigeon, paper airplanes or any other means of surreptitious

and distracting communication during class.

Contacting the Instructor: Email is the most effective way of communicating with me outside of

class and my office hours.

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Attendance:Attendance is mandatory. I will take attendance at the start of every class. If you are not

present I will mark you absent. Arriving late will count as half of an absence. You are allowed oneabsence without penalty. Each absence beyond the first one will reduce your course grade. If you

miss more than four classes you will be disqualified from taking the final and therefore will fail the

class.

Please read the assigned texts before class. Often I will offer some guidelines about future readingassignments in class. For example, I might tell you to focus on a particular text for the next class

meeting. If you are absent, you are responsible for getting the assignment from a classmate.

Written Assignments:Please note the following carefully when preparing your written assignments

for this class:

Written assignments must be typed following standard formatting practices for collegewritinguse a readable type style and size (12 point type), indent paragraphs, double spacebetween lines, and use one inch margins. Any style guide will contain information on

formatting your written assignments for submission.

Before handing in written assignments, edit and proofread your work carefully. Do not use plastic covers or report folders or title pages on your written assignments. Each

assignment, though, should have your name, the course number, the date, and my name on

separate lines (double-spaced) in the upper left corner of the first page. If the paper has a

title, center it on the first page, after the above information.

Use page numbers and place them in the upper right corner of the page. If you are uncertainhow to have word processing software generate the correct page number in the header of

your document, ask someone in one of the labs.

MLA format and style conventions should be followed for all written assignments (essaysand responses). For more information on MLA format and style conventions, see The MLA

Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, the appropriate section of a recent (published

after 2000) writers handbook, or one of the many reputable online sources.

Late papers are not accepted. The assignment due dates are distributed on the first day ofclass, and the assignments are made available often weeks before they are due.

Academic Dishonesty/Cheating:Collaborating with others is encouraged when you are planning

your papers, reviewing each others work, preparing for presentations or for exams. Study or reading

groups can be effective ways to study and learn. However, when you write your papers, the text

needs to be your own.

You must carefully observe the standard rules for acknowledging the sources of words andideas. If you make use of a phrase or a quote or if you paraphrase another writers words or

ideas, you must acknowledge the source of these words or ideas telling us the source of thesematerials. APA and MLA style differ on the exact format of this attribution, but the simple

version is the name of the author and the page number (if appropriate) in parentheses at the

end of the sentence containing the use of the source material. If you fail to acknowledge

properly the source of your text, you will receive a zero on the assignment and be reported to

the Student Disciplinary Officer.

If you plagiarize or otherwise misrepresent the source of your work, you will receive a zeroon the assignment and be reported to the Student Disciplinary Officer.

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Textbooks: The following texts are required for this class.

Anderson, Benedict.Imagined Communities. New York: Verso, 2006. (978-1844670864)

Austen, Jane.Mansfield Park. New York: Oxford, 2008. (978-0199535538)

Barbauld, Anna Laetitia. Selected Poetry and Prose. Peterborough: Broadview, 2001. (978-1551112411)

Colley, Linda.Britons: Forging a Nation, 1707-1837. 3rd Ed. New Haven, Conn: YaleUniversity Press, 2009. (978-0300152807)

Dickens, Charles.A Tale of Two Cities. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. (978-0199536238)

Wordsworth, William. The Major Works. Oxford, Oxford UP, 2008. (978-0199536863)

Faculty Furloughs

The state of California is facing an unprecedented fiscal crisis that has resulted in a $26.3 billion

deficit. The impact of this on the CSU system includes a reduction of approximately $564 million in

the systems base budget. As one strategy among others, the CSU has implemented furloughs of

most of its employees this coming academic year, including faculty, staff, and managementemployees. A furlough is mandatory un-paid time off; faculty and staff on each CSU campus are

being furloughed two days per month. These cancelled class days are marked on the syllabusbelow. It is important to recognize that these days off are notholidays. Instead, they are concrete

examples of how massive state budget cuts have consequences for you as students and for me as a

faculty member.

Each faculty member must designate six furlough days for each quarter. My furlough days for the

Spring quarter will be:

Friday, April 2 (mandatory university furlough day)

Tuesday, April 6

Wednesday, April 14

Tuesday, May 4

Friday, May 21 (mandatory university furlough day)Thursday June 10

Please note that on designated furlough days faculty are prohibited from engaging in any teaching,

research or administrative work, which includes responding to voice messages and emails.

Schedule

MW: Wordsworth, The Major Works

SPP: Barbauld, Selected Poetry and Prose

Reading Assignment Assignments Due

3/29 Theories of the NationAnderson,Imagined Communities(pages 1-82)

Gellner,Nations and Nationalism(excerpts online)

Hobsbawm,Nations and Nationalism Since 1780(excerpts online)

Breuilly,Nationalism and the State(excerpts online)

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Reading Assignment Assignments Due

4/5 The Case of Britain: ColleysBritonsand the English Response to

the French Revolution

Colley,Britons: Forging a Nation(Introduction and Chapters 1-3)

Readings on the Rights of Man Controversy (online); Barbauld, To a

Great Nation (SPP), Coleridge, France: An Ode (online), Once aJacobin Always a Jacobin (online); Wordsworth, Books 9-10 of ThePrelude(MW)

Weekly Response:

Nation

4/12 Defining Englishness: Charles DickensA Tale of Two Cities Weekly Response:

France

4/19 The Poetics of the Nation and the National Poet: The Exemplary Case

of William Wordsworth

Anderson,Imagined Communities(pages 163-185)

Colley,Britons: Forging a Nation(Chapters 4 and 7)

Wordsworth, Michael, selections fromPoems in Two Volumes(to be

announced in class), Laodamia (online), additional Sonnets

Dedicated to Liberty from 1815 (MW), Essay, Supplemental to thePreface (MW), Written with a Slate Pencil (online), View from the

Top of Black Comb (online), Thanksgiving Ode, January 18, 1816,

with other short pieces(online), Ode to Lycoris (online)

Weekly Response:People

4/26 Historicism and the Romantic Past: Walter Scott

Colley,Britons: Forging a Nation(Chapter 5)

Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel andMarmion (readings online)

Weekly Response:

Past

5/3 The Nation as Museum: Wordsworth, Landscape, and Preservation

Wordsworth, The Ruined Cottage, selections fromLyrical Ballads(1800) (to be announced in class) (MW), selections from The River

Duddon(to be announced in class), After Visiting the Field of

Waterloo, The Cave of Staff, On the Projected Kendal and

Windermere Railway (MW)

Weekly Response:

Place

5/10 Gender, Nation, and Empire

Anderson,Imagined Communities(pages 83-111)

Austen,Mansfield Park

Weekly Response:

English-ness

5/17 Speaking for the Nation: The Case of Anna Barbauld

Colley,Britons: Forging a Nation(Chapter 7)

Barbauld, The Mouses Petition, Epistle to William Wilberforce,

To Dr. Priestley, Dec. 29, 1792, To the Poor, Sins of Government,

Sins of the Nation, Eighteen Hundred and Eleven (SPP)

Weekly Response:

Female Politics

5/24 Staging/Gendering the Nation: Hannah CowleysA Day in Turkeyand

Elizabeth Inchbalds Such Things Are(readings online)Weekly Response:

Exotics

5/31 Memorial Day

6/7 Seminar Paper Presentations Seminar Paper Due

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Presentation Schedule (entries in blue require

supplemental reading)

4/5 Coleridge, France: An Ode and Once a

Jacobin Always a Jacobin

Wordsworth, Books 9-10 of The Prelude

____________________________________

____________________________________

4/12 Dickens,A Tale of Two Cities

Dickens,A Tale of Two Cities

Englishness in a Victorian Novel (Dickens,

Bronts, or Eliot)

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

4/19 Wordsworth, Michael, Laodamia

Wordsworth, Sonnets Dedicated to Liberty

Wordsworth, Thanksgiving Ode

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

4/26 Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Scott,Marmion

Scott, any of the novels

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

5/3 Wordsworth, fromLyrical Ballads(1800)

Wordsworth, from The River Duddon

____________________________________

____________________________________

5/10 Austen,Mansfield Park

Austen,Mansfield Park

Austen,Persuasion

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

5/17 Barbauld, Epistle to William Wilberforce,

To Dr. Priestley, Sins of Government, Sins

of the Nation

Barbauld,Eighteen Hundred and Eleven

Peacock, The Genius of the Thames

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________

5/24 Cowley,A Day in Turkey

Inchbald, Such Things Are

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