Michael Wilson University of Texas at Dallas

JO 5.604 School of Arts & Humanities

(o): 972-883-2080 Fall 2010
mwilson@utdallas.edu Tuesday 1:00- 3:45 p.m.

HUHI 6313 001: Victorian Britain

The 64 years of Queen Victoria‟s reign coincided with the apogee of Great Britain‟s economic, cultural,
and imperial power. During this period, Britain emerged as a modern, liberal state that was also the
world‟s pre-eminent industrial economy and the possessor of a vast colonial empire. The challenges
raised by these developments and their interactions make the Victorian era a particularly interesting
example of the possibilities, conflicts, and transformations inherent to modernity. This course will
encompass an overview of the history of nineteenth-century Britain, exposure to some of the period‟s
major thinkers and writers, and an introduction to major issues in the scholarship of the Victorian period.

REQUIRED TEXTS:
Matthew Arnold, Anarchy and Culture
[2009 Oxford edition only] 0199538743
Martin Fichman, Evolutionary Theory and Victorian Culture
Humanity Books, 2002 1591020034
Rudyard Kipling, Kim
[2002 Norton edition only] 039396650X
Colin Matthew, The Nineteenth Century: The British Isles, 1815-1901
Oxford UP, 2000 0198731434
Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor
Penguin, 1985 0140432418
John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women
[1997 Dover edition only] 0486296016
Pramod K. Nayar, ed., The 1857 Reader
Penguin, 2007 0143101994
Florence Nightingale, Cassandra
Feminist Press, 1993 091267055X
Timothy Parsons, The British Imperial Century, 1815-1914
Rowan & Littlefield, 1999 0847688259
Judith Walkowitz, City of Dreadful Delight
U of Chicago, 1992 0226871460

COURSE REQUIREMENTS/EVALUATION CRITERIA:

Seminar preparation and attendance; weekly informal writing assignments; oral presentation on and 4-to-
5- page analysis of a scholarly article; 12-to-15- page final paper (M.A. students may instead opt for two
6-to-8- page papers).

NOTE: --More than 2 absences, persistent tardiness, or failure to participate in

discussions will lower your final grade.
--Late assignments will NOT be accepted.
--All course work must be completed in order to pass the course.
--You are responsible for all relevant University policies; for a complete listing, see:
http://go.utdallas.edu/syllabus-policies
 SCHEDULE
August 24 Introduction
August 31 Matthew
Black & MacRaild
September 7 Parsons
Matthew
Porter
September 14 Carlyle
Mill
Peckham
Price
Hewett
September 21 Place
Hale
“The question „What is a Chartist‟ answered”
Cooper
Thompson
Belchem
Chadwick
Flinn
Allen
September 28 Hood
Mayhew
Engels
Himmelfarb
Steedman
October 5 Gibbs-Smith
Gurney
Kriegel
Gillooly
Chase & Levenson
Young
Message & Johnston
October 12 Nightingale
Norton
“Petition for the Married Women‟s Property Act”
Parkes
Cobb
Fawcett
October 19 Nayar
Pati
Herbert
October 26 Fichman
1-page proposal for final paper due in class
November 2 Arnold
Altick
 Ellis
November 9 Mill
Ruskin
Becker
Linton
Caird
Roberts
November 16 Greenwood
Ranyard
Stanley
Mearns
Booth
Booth
Ginn
November 23 Walkowitz
November 30 Kipling
Kling
December 1 Individual conferences with instructor
December 12 Final paper due