A number of readings may be downloaded from Project Gutenberg and other online sources. Links to Web sites containing film and artwork information are also included where available.
Required Texts
Gide, André. The Immoralist. New York: Dover, 1996. ISBN: 0486292371.
Housman, A. E. A Shropshire Lad. New York: Dover, 1990. ISBN: 0486264688. (download a version from Project Gutenberg)
Negri, Paul, ed. English Victorian Poetry. New York: Dover, 1999. ISBN: 0486404250.
Shaw, George Bernard. Pygmalion. New York: Dover, 1994. ISBN: 0486282228. (download a version from Project Gutenberg)
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House. New York: Dover, 1992. ISBN: 0486270629. (download a version from Project Gutenberg)
Carroll, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland. New York: Dover, 2001. ISBN: 0486416585. (download a version from Project Gutenberg)
Stoppard, Tom. The Invention of Love. New York: Grove/Atlantic, 1998. ISBN: 0802135811.
Stoppard, Tom. Travesties. New York: Grove/Atlantic, 1996. ISBN: 0802150896.
Kaufman, Moises. Gross Indecency. New York: Vintage, 1998. ISBN: 0413771709.
Wilde, Oscar. Complete Works of Oscar Wilde. Washington, DC: Eagle hardcover, 2000. ISBN: 0007144350. (download versions of many of his works from Project Gutenberg)
| SES # | TOPICS / READINGS | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Primary Wilde. “The Selfish Giant.” (download a version of this text from planetmonk.com) |
In Class We’ll also read paintings by Burne-Jones (“King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid,” “Star of Bethlehem.”) and Wm. Holman Hunt (“Light of the World”, “Rienzi”). Extra evening class this week: After this film, write a 2-page meditation on the film’s attitude toward the relation of the life to the art. You may consider dimensions of class, of sexuality and/or its social or legal descriptions, of other cultural forces, of psychology. If you’re stuck for a topic, consider why the film uses the Wilde story as its framing device. We’ll also read paintings by D. G. Rossetti (“The Girlhood of the Virgin Mary,” “How they Met Themselves,” and “Ecce Ancilla Domini”), and for reference read Buchanan, “The Fleshy School of Petry.” |
| 2 |
Primary Housman, A. E. A Shropshire Lad. (download a version of this text from the University of Virginia Library) Stoppard, Tom. The Invention of Love. New York: Grove Press, 1998. ISBN: 0802135811. Poems Browning. “My Last Duchess,” “Mistress,” “P’s Lover.” (download versions of these texts from Project Gutenberg) Tennyson. “Idylls,” “Ulysses.” (download versions of these texts from Project Gutenberg) |
In Class We’ll also read a painting, James M. Whistler’s “Arrangement…”: (known as “Whistler’s “‘Mother’”). (download a version of this work from artrenewal.org) Factoids Housman and A Shropshire Lad. (download a version of this text from the University of Virginia Library) Ruskin and the Whistler trial. |
| 3 |
Primary Wilde, Oscar. “Rocket.” Ruskin, John. “Of Modern Landscape.” Chapter 16 in Modern Painters. Vol. 3, part iv, 1856. Poems About Art ———. “Style.” Fortnightly Review 50 (December 1888): 728-42. Masson, David. “Pre-Raphaelitism in Art and Literature.” British Quarterly Review 16 (August 1852): 197-220. Poems Rosetti, C. “Song,” “Birthday,” “Ladybird,” “Remember.” (download a version of this work from about.com) Rosetti, D. G. “Woodspurge.” Swinburne, Algernon. “Leper.” Tennyson. “Lady of Shallott.” (download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg) Ancillary Reading Plays Murphy, Gregory. The Countess. New York: Dramatist’s Play Service, 2000. ISBN: 0822217368. |
In Class We’ll also read a painting, Millais’ “Christ in the House of His Parents” (with reference to “The Blind Girl”). (download a version of this work from abcgallery.com) Factoids PreRaphelite Aesthetics. Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience and Bunthorne. |
| 4 |
Primary Whitman. “Calamus.” (download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg) “Live Oak with Moss.” (Poem Sequence) Plato. “Lysis.” (download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg) Arnold, Matthew. “Sweetness and Light.” (from Culture and Anarchy, 1869, chapter 1) (also Arnold in Victo antho, “Dover Beach” 64) (download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg) |
In Class We’ll also read a painting, Thomas Eakins’ “Swimming” with reference to photo-experiments by Eadweard Muybridge and to Sicilian (sqeamishly “classical”) photos by (Baron) Wilhelm von Gloeden. download versions of Muybridge’s work from Chrono Photographical Projections) (download versions of von Gloeden’s work from vongloedengayhistory.free.fr) Factoids Eve Sedgwick (critic) Whitman as Code. Julia Brown (critic) on Oxford Classicism. Wilde in America. Wilde meets Whitman. Whitman Tries to Edit himself Out of Gay History: The Textual History of ‘Live Oak with Moss.’ |
| 5 |
Primary Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House. (download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg) Essays Wilde. “The Soul of Man Under Socialism.” (download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg) Ancillary Shaw, George Bernard. “Quintessence of Ibsenism.” (download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg) ———. Pygmalion. (download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg) Readings Browning, E. B. “Sonnets” 1, “Grief” 7, “Flush” 10. (download versions of these works from Project Gutenberg) Meredith, George. “From ‘Modern Love’.” pp. 75, 80, 81. |
In Class Sergeant Picture: “The Boit Sisters.” Wm. Morris: Wallpaper patterns, with reference to the history of wallpaper and to other systems of repetition and change — c.f. Deleuze.) Factoids Wm. Morris and the politics of wallpaper. Films |
| 6 |
Primary Essays Wilde. Salome. (download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg) Barthes, Roland. “On Striptease.” |
In Class Aubrey Beardsley’s Illustrations to Salome. Factoids The Textual History of Salome. Beardsley and The Yellow Book. Baudelaire and Symbolist Decadence. Huysman. |
| 7 |
Primary Wilde. Dorian Gray. (download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg) Ancillary Essays Benjamin, Walter. “Art…Mechanical Reproduction.” (download a version of this work from marxists.org) |
Factoids Self, Will. Dorian. London: Penguin Books, 2003. ISBN: 0140290567. Lawsuit: Burrow Giles Lithographic vs. Sarony. Available in: Casner, James A. et. al. Cases and Text on Property. New York: Aspen Publishers, 2004. ISBN: 0735539804. |
| 8 |
Primary Carroll, Lewis. Alice…in Wonderland. (download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg) Ancillary Freud, Sigmund. “…Infantile Sexuality.” Available in: Freud, Sigmund. Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. New York: Basic Books, 2000. ISBN: 0465097081 Deleuze, Gilles. “Lewis Carroll.” |
In Class We’ll read photos by ‘Lewis Carroll’ and by Sally Mann. Factoids The Tenniell Illustations. Lewis Carroll/Mathematician/Photographer. Freud. Women and the Seduction Theory. Available in: |
| 9 |
Primary Wilde. The Importance of Being Earnest. (download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg) |
In Class Lady Bracknell and Austen’s Lady DeVere. Factoids Telltale Cigarette Cases. The Textual History of Earnest. |
| 10 |
Films The Importance of Being Earnest. DVD, 94 min. Mirimax Home Entertainment, US, 2002. |
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| 11 |
Primary Kaufman. Gross Indecencies. Ancillary Poems by Alfred (Lord) Douglas. |
Factoids The Textual History of “De P.” Hare, David. The Judas Kiss. New York: Grove Press 1998. ISBN: 0802135722 The Labouchère Amendment. Edward Carpenter and the Intermediate Sex. Stevenson, Robert Louis. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. (download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg) |
| 12 |
Primary Wilde. “De Profundis.” (download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg) Wilde. “The Ballad of Reading Goal.” (download a version of this work from Project Gutenberg) Ancillary Poems Hopkins, G. M.: “I Wake” 84, “Pies Beauty” 85 “God’s Grandeur” 85, “Binsey Poplars” 86, “Spring” 87. (download versions of these works from geraldmanleyhopkins.org) |
In Class We’ll read poster/pictures by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. (download versions of these works from ibiblio.org) Factoids What Became of Bosie. Gide, André. The Immoralist /Gide and Wilde Stoppard, Tom. Travesties. The Politics of Reputation (Where is Wilde Buried?) |
