Not only is the Victorian Age a period of rapid economical and social changes, but it is also a very productive era with regard to literature. Some of the most well-known writers of English literature, such as for instance Charlotte Brontë and Charles Dickens wrote their masterpieces during this time. But the Victorian Age is by no means only the heyday of the novel. Poets such as for instance Robert Browning or Alfred Lord Tennyson sought new ways of telling stories in the form of verse. Furthermore, this era could also be referred to as the golden age of children's literature, with Lewis Carroll and his masterpiece Alice in Wonderland probably being the nowadays most well-known author of this genre. This seminar intends to give students an overview of Victorian literature and culture. We will read various poems as well as extracts from novels and dramatic texts and try to put them into their historical, political, social and philosophical context. A Reader will be available in the Kopierladen Reckhammerweg from early April onwards. Students are asked to buy their own copies of Charles Dickens Hard Times (Penguin Classics Edition, 2003) and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (Penguin Popular Classics Edition, 2007). |
