ENGL 635:
The Bloomsbury Group
Spring, 2003; U, 7-9:20 p.m.
 

Schedule of Classes | Web Resources | Bulletin Board

Schedule for Presentations/Class Discussions

 
Professor Karin Westman
108 Denison Hall
Office: 532-2171; Office Hours: T, U 8-9a.m. and by app't.
Email: westmank@ksu.edu

Required Texts
E.M. Forster, Howards End (1910) (Vintage International)
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (1927) (Harcourt Brace)
Virginia Woolf, The Waves (1931) (Harcourt Brace)
Virginia Woolf, Between the Acts (1941)
Michael Cunningham, The Hours (1998)
Class Pack (CPI = selections from Rosenbaum, The Bloomsbury Group; CPII = selected short stories, non-fiction prose, and critical essays; Class Pack available at A&S Copy Center in Eisenhower Hall)
 
Course Description and Objectives
During the next few months, we'll be exploring the art, literature, and culture of early twentieth-century England through the works of The Bloomsbury Group. We will examine the relationships among the literary works of Bloomsbury authors such as Lytton Strachey, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield, and T.S. Eliot, focusing our attention on their perspectives on English society and personal experience. We will also consider their work in light of their 19th century predecessors (Matthew Arnold, Walter Pater, Oscar Wilde, G.E. Moore) and in light of the post-impressionist visual artists and art theorists of the Group (Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell, Clive Bell, Roger Fry).
 
 
Requirements and General Expectations
Class Participation and Attendance: Class participation is, of course, required. To participate, you must complete the reading assigned for each class session and think carefully about what you have read. Your attendance is therefore important. You will not be penalized for your first absence; thereafter, your final course grade will drop one grade (i.e., B+ to B) for each day missed. Excessive absences (three or more) may result in failure of the course. While I appreciate your offering explanations for absences, the only way to excuse an absence is to provide me with an official letter from your dean or an official notice of illness from the Health Center or your doctor.
 
 
Presentation/Leading Class Discussion: Students will sign up in groups of 2-3 to present some background material for one of our class sessions OR sign up to initiate class discussion for one of our class sessions. Presentations (10 minutes in length) should provide information which can in turn encourage us to explore the connections between the secondary readings and our assigned primary reading. Questions for class discussion (3-5 in number) should highlight issues or themes or queries you think we should address in our class discussion of the reading assigned for that day. In most cases presentation/leading class discussion topics are provided below. Students should contact me in advance to confirm the focus of their presentation, and students leading class discussions should email me their questions by 8 pm the night before.
 
 
Papers and Response Papers: All students will write one shorter paper (4-5 pages in length); undergraduates will also write a longer paper (7-8 pages in length), while graduate students will also write a longer paper with secondary sources (8-10 pages in length) and an essay review of four articles or a book-length study about one of our authors or about the Group. You will have a choice of two or three topics for Paper #1, and you will have a choice of text for Paper #2. Both papers should follow the general rules of composition and be typed or word-processed with standard double-spacing, 1-inch margins, and either 10- or 12-point typeface. Title pages and cover sheets are unnecessary. Pages should be numbered, stapled together, and spell-checked. Papers are due by the date and time on the syllabus; late papers will be penalized one grade (i.e.: A to B) for each day late.

You will also write five response papers (2 pp in length) in response to our readings. Response papers are designed to ready you for class discussion and to explore ideas you could develop further in your longer papers. They are due the day indicated on the syllabus. In your response paper, you should not repeat previous class discussions or provide a mere summary of the reading. Instead, your response should begin to analyze the reading assigned for that class session, selecting an issue or theme or question you feel to be significant. I recommend that you select a word, phrase, or short quotation from the reading to initiate your response. (See sample response distributed in class.) Responses will be graded on a 1-5 scale: 5=A, 4=B, 3=C, 2=D, 1=F. I do not accept late response papers.
 
 
Electronic Bulletin Board: To offer another venue for discussion, we'll start using an electronic bulletin board. Each student should post at least one a week to the bulletin board, responding to an existing thread of the conversation or initiating another; weekly postings will count for 10% of your class participation grade. The weekly bulletin board will run from Friday to Thursday, to encourage you to post right after as well as right before our weekly class discussions. I'll monitor these conversations, and may also participate, but I see the bulletin board primarily as a way for you to raise issues we haven't addressed -- or addressed fully or to your satisfaction -- during our regular class meetings. Though extra postings to the bulletin board will not automatically replace participation in our class discussions, regular contributions above and beyond your weekly posting can certainly improve your class participation grade.

Online, Video, and Reserve Resources: Along with some requi red viewing (the Channel 4 t.v. show "The 1940s House"), I will refer you to resources available online or on video to complement our readings and discussions. A "Web Resources" link from our course homepage will take you to a page of links devoted to the Group's authors, their work, and the times in which they lived. A range of books are on reserve at Hale Library as well, including the volumes of Woolf's letters and diaries, drafts of her novels, and reference guides to her work and to the Bloomsbury Group.
 
Grading:
Undergraduate Students: The two papers will count for 40% of your final grade (15% and 25% respectively); the response papers will count for 20% of your final grade. Class participation (20%) and a final exam (20%) complete the requirements.

Graduate Students: The shorter paper will count for 10%, the essay review will count for 10%, and the longer paper will count for 25% of your final grade. The response papers will count for 20% of your final grade. Class participation (20%) and a final exam (15%) complete the requirements.
 

Schedule of Classes

(subject to change)

Bloomsbury in Context
January 16

Matthew Arnold, from Culture and Anarchy; Walter Pater, "Conclusion" to The Renaissance; Oscar Wilde, from "The Critic as Artist"; G.E. Moore, from Principia Ethica; Forster, from The Longest Journey [handouts]; PowerPoint Introduction

Beginnings

23
Overview: Marler, "Introduction" to Bloomsbury Pie (CPII: 3-17); Rosenbaum, "Forward" & "Introduction" (CPI: ix-xv, 1); Virginia Woolf, "Old Bloomsbury" (CPII: 159-179)
Ur-Bloomsbury at Cambridge & the Early Years in London: MacCarthy, "Bloomsbury, An Unfinished Memoir" & "The Influence of Henry James..." (CPI: 26-32); Keynes, "My Early Beliefs" (CPI: 48-64); Vanessa Bell, "Notes on Bloomsbury" (CPI: 73-84); Clive Bell, "Bloomsbury" (CPI: 84-92); Leonard Woolf, "Cambridge Friends and Influences" (CPI: 92-109) & "Old Bloomsbury" (CPI: 109-115)
Leonard Woolf, "The Beginnings of the Hogarth Press" (CPI: 117-122); Mansfield, "Prelude" (CPII: 219-263); T.S. Eliot, "Preludes" (CPII: 22-24)
Response Paper #1 Due (2 pages) on Mansfield's "Prelude"
30

Forster, Howards End (3-201/Chps. 1-22); Garnett, "E.M. Forster" (CPI: 163-169); Forster, "What I Believe" (CPII: 165-172)
February 6
Forster, Howards End (202-359/Chps.23-end); Marler, on Forster's Maurice from Bloomsbury Pie (CPII: 94-99)
Response Paper #2 Due (2 pages)
Leading Discussion: Schlegel, Wilcox, & Bast: Who Will Inherit England?
13
Strachey, "Preface," "Florence Nightingale," and "Dr Arnold" from Eminent Victorians (CPII: 9-11, 111-188)
Sarah Stickney Ellis, from The Women of England (X: 1721-3); Coventry Patmore, from "The Angel in the House" (X: 1723-24); Harriet Martineau, from Autobiography (X: 1725-28); Woolf, "Professions for Women" (CPII: 2214-2218)

Private Visions: Art and Life in Bloomsbury
20
Theory: Fry, "Introduction," "An Essay in Aesthetics," "The French Post-Impressionists," and "Retrospective" from Vision and Design (CPII: xi-xxv, 12-27, 166-170, 199-211 & notes)
Practice: MacCarthy, "The Post-Impressionist Exhibition of 1910" (CPI: 68-73); Leonard Woolf, "The Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition" (CPI: 115-117); Quentin Bell, "A Cezanne in the Hedge" (CPII: 136-139) & "The Character of Bloomsbury" (CPI: 318-326)
Presentation: Public Response to the Post-Impressionist Exhibitions
27
Virginia Woolf, "The Mark on the Wall" & "Kew Gardens" (CPII: 83-95, 297-88); "Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown" (CPII: 384-389) & "Modern Fiction" (CPII: 2148-2153)
Paper #1 Due (5 pages)
PowerPoint on Woolf
March
6
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (1-143)
Presentation: Woolf's Diaries, Vols. 2-3: Composition & Publication of To the Lighthouse
Presentation: Woolf's Letters, Vols.3-4: Composition & Publication of To the Lighthouse
13
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (145-209)
Response Paper #3 Due (2 pages)
Presentation: The Original Holograph Draft: Composition & Publication of To the Lighthouse
Leading Discussion: Part III of TTL
20
Spring Break
27
Virginia Woolf, The Waves (7-181); Woolf, "From 'A Sketch of the Past'" (CPII: 2218-2223) PowerPoint on The Waves
April
3
Virginia Woolf, The Waves (181-297)
Response Paper #4 Due (2 pages)
Presentation: Woolf's Diaries, Vols. 3-4: Composition & Publication of The Waves
Presentation: Woolf's Letters, Vols. 3-4 : Composition & Publication of The Waves
Presentation: Two Holograph Drafts: Composition & Publication of The Waves
Leading Discussion: Open Topic on The Waves
10
In class viewing of "The 1940s House" (7-10pm) and bulletin board response.
Essay Review Due in class (4-5 pages)
17
Escapism or Engagement?: Forster, "The Ivory Tower" (CPII: 119-130); Woolf, "The Leaning Tower" (CPII: 128-154) & "Professions for Women" (CPII: 2214-2218)
Bloomsbury Observed: Spender, "Bloomsbury in the Thirties" (CPI: 259-269); Brenan, "Bloomsbury in Spain" (CPI: 283, 289-295); Rosenbaum, "Introduction" (CPI: 329-331); Garnett, "D.H. Lawrence" (CPI: 361-370); introduction to "F.R. Leavis" (CPI: 387-389)
Bloomsbury in the 1930s
24
Virginia Woolf, Between the Acts (3-219); Fitzgerald, "The Last Artist" (CPII: 108-110)
Response Paper #5 Due (2 pages)
Presentation: Woolf's Diary, Vol.5: Composition of Between the Acts
Presentation: Woolf's Letters, Vol.6: Composition of Between the Acts

Past, Present, & Future
May 1

Bloomsbury Remembered & Repackaged: Leonard Woolf, "The Memoir Club" (CPI: 122-123); Marler, on the Bloomsbury Boom, 1980-1997 from Bloomsbury Pie (CPII: 263-284); Silver, from Virginia Woolf Icon (CPII: xv-xvii, 1-13, 28-31)
F 2 Paper #2 Due to my mailbox in DE122 by 5 p.m.
8 Cunningham, The Hours
15 Final Exam (IDs & essay): 7-8:50 p.m.