AJ25049 American Fiction and Domestic Ideology

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2012
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 3 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Bonita Rhoads (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
each even Thursday 12:30–14:05 G31
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/15, only registered: 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 6 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This course examines the cultural aims of domestic fiction (also commonly referred to as sentimental fiction). Written primarily by female authors, it was the bestselling literature in Victorian America. In particular, we’ll endeavor to interpret the domestic “angel” broadly, as a nineteenth-century icon “housebound” yet not necessarily “housebroken.” Is the sentimental ingenue simply the submissive mouthpiece of bourgeois discipline or can we read her as a guardian of humanistic values against the instrumental social relations of the emerging market economy? In what sense does the sentimental novel construct the feminine “domestic sphere” as a radical alternative to the “male” world of politics and capital, transferring moral authority from public to private life? Along with fiction, we will consider domestic ideology as a widespread cultural phenomenon, reflected in the guidebooks, magazines, architecture, and political movements of the period. We will also read several so-called “anti-domestic narratives.” This comparatist approach will allow us to consider what genres can be identified in part as reactions to domestic ideology (the Gothic plot, the detective tale, the “linguistic turn” modernism). Can we view competing genres as a backlash against the evangelical imperatives of sentimental literature or do they also reveal surprising influences from the domestic plot? Literature to be selected from: Godey’s Lady’s Book, 1840-1860 A New-England Tale (excerpts), Catherine Maria Sedgwick, 1822 The Wide, Wide World (excerpts), Susan Warner, 1850 The Architecture of Country Houses, Andrew Jackson Downing, 1850 Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852 The Curse of Clifton (excerpts), E.D.E.N. Southworth, 1852 The Lamplighter (excerpts), Maria Cummins, 1854 Our Nig, Harriet Wilson, 1859 Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself, Harriet Jacobs, 1861 The American Woman’s Home (excerpts), Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1869 “The Black Cat,” Edgar Allan Poe, 1843 “Ligeia,” Edgar Allan Poe, 1838 “Loss of Breath,” Edgar Allan Poe, 1832 “The Murders in the Rue Morgue, Edgar Allan Poe, 1841 “The Mystery of Marie Roget,” Edgar Allan Poe, 1842 Pierre, Herman Melville, 1852 The Spoils of Poynton, Henry James, 1897 The House of the Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851 Critical Readings to be selected from: The Feminization of American Culture, Ann Douglas, 1977 Woman’s Fiction, Nina Baym, 1978 Empire of the Mother: American Writing About Domesticity, Mary P. Ryan, 1982 Confidence Men and Painted Women, Karen Halttunen, 1986 Sentimental Designs, Jane Tompkins, 1985 “Sparing the Rod: Discipline and Fiction in Antebellum America,” Richard H. Brodhead, 1988 Domestic Individualism: Imagining Self in Nineteenth-Century America, Gillian Brown, 1992 Sentimental Materialism Lori Merish, 2000 “Poe’s Genre-Crossing: From Domesticity to Dectection,” Bonita Rhoads, 2008
Assessment methods
Assessment: Regular attendance and participation in discussion 10%. 4 brief on-line reading responses (worth 5% each for 20% of your final grade), which you will submit to the class site on 4 out of the 5 weeks when we have no class meeting. Final Essay 70%. Attendance is important since we have only 6 to 7 class meetings. For each class meeting, you should be prepared to discuss the reading. On-line reading responses should be kept to a couple of thoughtful paragraphs; please point out issues and raises questions in relation to the reading or outline connections between the critical reading and the literature. Final essays should be 12-15 pages double-spaced in MLA format.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught once in two years.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2015.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2012, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2012/AJ25049