English 23C, 19th-Century British Literature
Course Syllabus

The following is a syllabus for a class offered at the University of California, Riverside. 

Instructor : P. Aaron Potter
Office Hours : Required office meetings will be announced in class.  Additional office hours by appointment.

In addition to class time and office hours, I can be reached through my mailbox in the English department, or through my e-mail.

Course Description :
What is “Romanticism” about?  Love Poetry?  Romans?  What comes to mind when you hear the word “Victorian?”  High tea?  Jack the Ripper?  Upscale lingerie?
Among many other things, the “Romantic” and “Victorian” are the two major movements in nineteenth-century English literature.  In this class we will read some of the literature produced in England during this period, and we’ll encounter and debate several definitions of those two key terms.  However, this course is not just about an historic era and its literature – it is also a course about concerns and questions which are very real for us today.  Nineteenth century literature reflects the vast social tensions which arose in the wake of the French Revolution and the Enlightenment: tensions between the individual and society, between the desires for liberty and security, between nature and the man-made world, between a growing superpower and an international community, and between the mind and heart.  If any of this is sounding familiar, it’s because these are tensions we have yet to resolve.  As the inheritors of that culture, we are not only interested in this material because of the ways it illuminates history, but the ways in which nineteenth-century authors can illuminate our own cultural moment, and our own lives.

Required Textbooks :

• The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 7^th edition, Volume 2 (edited by Abrams, Greenblatt, et. al.  Be certain of volume and edition!)

• The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde (page numbers are from the Modern Library edition, available in the bookstore)

Course Requirements :
Students are responsible for arriving in class on-time and prepared, which includes responsibility for all assigned readings on the dates indicated in the schedule. All papers and drafts of papers are due at the beginning of class on the due date indicated. In addition, occasional in-class exercises and quizzes will be assigned, and are factored into the final grade as indicated below. It should be noted that showing up for class on time and prepared is considered *minimally* adequate behavior for a college-level class, and thus merits a *C* grade. Active participation in classroom discussion is essential to earning a higher grade in the participation category.

Grading : (numbers in parentheses indicate minimum page-length requirements)

• Reading Responses #1-4 (1-2 page each)  -- 20% (5% each)

• Mid-Term Examination -- 20%

• Final Paper (4 pages) -- 20%

• Final Examination -- 30%

• Participation, quizzes -- 10%

Class Policies:

• You are responsible for four brief (1-2 page) response essays, outlining your reaction to some aspect of the day’s readings.  Response essays are due on the same day as the reading they are responding to.  You may argue the merits of the reading or its parts, analyze or interpret some of the readings, debate with the authors’ conclusions, compare the readings to a modern topic or text, or otherwise engage with the material in any way which represents your reaction to the texts. 
• Failure to turn in *one* assignment results in a zero ("F") for that assignment. Failure to turn in *two* assignments results in a zero for those assignments *and* a zero for the participation section of the grade. Failure to turn in *three* or more assignments results in an automatic failing grade in the class. 
• Late papers are automatically graded one full letter grade lower than they would otherwise have merited (an "A" turns into a "B," for example). An additional one-third letter grade is deducted for each additional day (not class day, but every day) that the assignment remains outstanding (that is, from a "B" to a "B-" to a "C+" and so on). If the assignment is as much as a week overdue, then it counts as not being handed in, per the policy above.
• All essays should be typed and double-spaced, with approximately 1 - 1.5 inch margins on all sides, in a 12 point font (Times New Roman or a similar ‘standard’ font is strongly preferred). College level papers are thoroughly formal documents : spelling and grammar are important components of your writing, and I urge you to proofread carefully! Feel free to use a spell-checker, but don’t let it do your thinking for you.  Please do *not* rely upon your word processor's grammar checking functions -- all of those currently available are worse than useless.  For more information on paper format, see the class web-pages and follow the link to the "style guide."
• Papers which are shorter than the required minimum will automatically be given a failing grade.  Please note that one sentence does not constitute a "page" of writing -- the writing should extend at least half-way down the page for it to be counted towards the minimum length requirements. Material from other sources *does not count* towards the minimum page length.
• This class adheres strictly to the University policy on academic dishonesty.  Please note that any uncited use of material from an outside source, whether direct quotations or essential ideas, constitutes plagiarism.  This includes material you have previously submitted to other classes here or elsewhere, as well as any websites or other sources consulted at any point during the composition process.  Note that it makes absolutely no difference whether you intended to plagiarize material or merely forgot to cite your sources; both cases present other people’s work as though it were your own, and therefore constitute plagiarism under university policy.  Papers which are suspected of being partially or completely plagiarized will be turned over to the Office of Student Conduct, which will determine the appropriate sanctions, up to and including expulsion from the University.

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