FGSS 4331

Women, Real and Imagined: British Romanticism

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2019-2020.

In this course we will trace how the wider participation of women in the public sphere affected media, gender roles, and sexuality in early nineteenth-century England. Women, as well as men, responded vigorously to the French Revolution and to the British reaction against it. Women were able, during the Romantic period, to accomplish widely contrasting achievements, such as these: follow up A Vindication of the Rights of Man with A Vindication of the Rights of Women; win fame and earn a living by writing Italian sonnets, or by writing closet dramas; win a separation payment after an affair with the Prince of Wales and then thrive as a writer and intellectual; and, of course—as Mary Shelley did, at age 19—write and publish Frankenstein. This seminar aims to understand, interpret, and even participate in the history of women's writing and achievements in the public sphere—as well as—also important—more private imaginative experiences. No previous knowledge of pre-twentieth century literature is necessary.

When Offered Fall.

Breadth Requirement (HB)
Distribution Category (LA-AS)

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