Representing Jews and Judaism in Victorian Literature and Culture
Fall 2004
LIT 4930/ JST 3930, University of Florida
Instructor: Dr. Judith Page, Department of English, Turlington 4339,
392-6650, ext. 293
email: jwp@english.ufl.edu
Office Hours: Tuesdays 11-12:30 and by appointment
Course Description
The most famous Jew in Victorian England, Benjamin Disraeli, did not actually practice Judaism, since he was baptized at the age of twelve. And yet, Disraeli could not escape his Jewishness. Although Disraeli will not be the main focus of this course, ideas of Jewishness, representation, and British nationality will provide a common thread. We will explore the ways in which Jewish and non-Jewish writers negotiate the slippery terrain of Jewish and national identity. We will also read a variety of texts closely and carefully, attending to formal questions, modes of representation, and cultural significance.
In addition to the following texts, students will read selections from contemporary theorists, historians, and critics. We will also view a production of The Merchant of Venice (set in late Victorian costume) and the musical adaptation of Oliver Twist, Oliver! Please note that The Merchant of Venice is included in this reading list as kind of ur-text for everything that follows. Students who take this course must be committed to reading several hundred pages a week, usually in the form of long novels.
Required texts
(available at Goerings, 1717 NW 1st Ave)
- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (1597)
- William Hazlitt, "Emancipation of the Jews" (1831)
- Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837-38)
- Grace Aguilar, Selected Writings, ed. Michael Galchinsky
- Benjamin Disraeli, from Coningsby (1844), Tancred (1847), and Plan for a Jewish State (1877)
- Amy Levy, The Complete Novels and Selected Writings, ed. Melvyn New
- George Eliot, Daniel Deronda (1876)
- Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897)
Requirements
Regular class attendance and participation are required. All students are responsible for material covered in class and for any changes made to the syllabus when announced in class. Students missing more than three hours of class will be penalized in the final grading. Students missing more than nine hours of class (equivalent to three weeks of class) for whatever reason will not pass the course. Lateness counts for half an absence. Students who attend class regularly and participate consistently will benefit in the final grading.
Class will consist of some brief lectures combined with lots of discussion. The success of the class, therefore, will depend on your participation. Everyone must keep up with the reading and come to class prepared. In order to pass this course, students must submit all written work. No late work will receive full credit. Late papers will be reduced by half a letter grade for each day late. You may request an extension on a paper one week before the due date.
Students must adhere to the guidelines for academic honesty set out in the Undergraduate Catalogue. Students who plagiarize all or part of their work or otherwise cheat run the risk of failing the course. If you have any doubts or questions about documentation of your work, please see me before you submit your work to me. I will be glad answer any questions or review forms of documentation.
The University encourages students with disabilities to register with the Office of Student Service to determine appropriate accommodation.
Grading
| Participation* | 15% |
| Five Reading Quizzes** | 15% |
| Midterm Exam (in class) | 20% |
| Formal Paper*** | 25% |
| Take-home exam | 25% |
The grading scale for the class is 90-100, A; 87-89, B+; 80-86, B, and so on.
*Participation
In order to do well on this component, you will have to come to class regularly and on time, having completed all of the reading for a given class. You will also be expected to join in discussions in a constructive manner and with respect for other participants.
**Reading Quizzes
These quizzes will consist of short, factual questions or identification of passages. I will give the quiz at the beginning of class and students will have approximately 15 minutes to complete the questions. Each quiz is worth 20 points. Please note that I will give no make-up quizzes; if you miss a quiz either because you are absent or because you are late, you will not be allowed to make it up. However, there will be 6 quizzes during the semester, so you may miss or drop one quiz with no penalty. If you take all 6 quizzes, I will drop the lowest score.
***Formal Paper
For this assignment, you will be required to write a paper (at least 10 typed pages) in which you develop and sustain an argument. In other words, your paper will have a main point or points. For example, you will not just do a comparison of X and Y, but you might argue that X influences Y in certain particular ways. You will also support your ideas with specific details from the text(s) under consideration. If you consult secondary materials (critical books, histories, journal articles, scholarly Web sites, etc), you must provide proper documentation for all sources that you consult. For these purposes, consult the MLA Handbook (either a printed version or excerpt such as included in Diane Hacker's Rules for Writers or an on-line version from the MLA Web site: www.mla.org).
You will get the most out of this assignment if you select a topic that truly interests you. The topic might take the form of a question or a problem or it could be a striking connection that you have noticed between the works of two authors we have studied, or it could revolve around a particular idea that we have discussed during the semester. I will suggest some topics (some of them very broad), but you will of course have to develop your own thesis or argument. You are also free to select your own topic or develop an idea that you have begun to analyze in one of your response papers.
In assessing these papers, I will consider the strength of your argument, clarity of your organization, supporting evidence and detail, quality of your writing, and skill in engaging the reader. This list is not meant to intimidate you but, rather, to give you a clear idea of the standards, and to assure you that I grade on how well you have met these standards and not on whether I agree with every point. Please see me or write to me at any time during the process if I can help you with your paper. You should view this assignment as a process that will take several weeks, not as a last-minute scramble. Although many factors come into play, in general my guidelines are as follows:
An A paper develops a complex, detailed, and imaginative argument based on analytical reading; it takes some risks in its ideas and approaches and shows sophisticated thought. An A paper is impeccably written, virtually free of grammatical and stylistic problems.
A B paper contains ideas and insights, but the ideas are either not as complex or not as fully or clearly developed as an A paper. There may be some summary and paraphrase when there should be analysis. There may be errors in style and grammar or lack of adequate supporting evidence for assertions.
A C paper may have some ideas, but the argument is not developed and the details are inadequate. This paper generally includes more paraphrase or summary than analysis and contains far too many grammatical or stylistic errors to be good.
Papers earning grades less than C do not satisfactorily meet the above standards, although a D paper may have some redeeming qualities.
A few additional points to remember: If you have any questions about the meaning of plagiarism or the need to cite any sources consulted, please ask me about this. It is your responsibility. Feel free to visit one of the writing centers or to share drafts of your papers with other students--you might even want to work in groups of two or three--but always acknowledge any help that you have received in preparing the paper. (You might do this by including an acknowledgments page.) Also, be sure to proofread the final draft of your paper very carefully--frequent typos and mechanical errors weaken even a lively paper.
Schedule of Readings and Assignments
Readings must be completed on the day for which they are listed. Always bring the text under discussion to class. Always read the editor's introduction to the text.
- August 24
- Introduction to the course: backgrounds on Jews and Judaism in Britain
Introduction to Merchant of Venice - August 31
- Read Merchant of Venice, including critical reading and commentaries
in the Signet edition
Begin reading Harrington - September 7
- William Hazlitt, "Emancipation of the Jews" (copy provided)
Discussion of Harrington and all supplementary readings in the Broadview edition
Quiz on all reading for the day - September 14
- Read Michael Ragussis, "The "secret" of English anti-Semitism: Anglo-Jewish Studies and Victorian Studies," Victorian Studies 40 (Winter 1997), 295-307. Also available on line through OCLC FirstSearch: Full Text. Read Oliver Twist, through Book the Second, p. 305 Viewing of Oliver! in class (part 1)
- September 21
- Complete Oliver Twist
Viewing of Oliver! in class (part 2)
Quiz on Oliver Twist - September 28
- Selected Writings of Grace Aguilar:
- "The Escape," 61
- "The Perez Family," 87
- "A Vision of Jerusalem," 196
- "The Wanderers, "204
- The Women of Israel, 247
- "History of the Jews of England," 313
- Appendices: A, B, and E Quiz on Grace Aguilar
- October 5
- Midterm Exam in class
- October 12
- Disraeli, from Coningsby (1844), Tancred (1847),
Plan for a Jewish State (1877)
Sander Gilman, from Jewish Self-Hatred (copy provided)
Quiz on reading for the day - October 19
- The Complete Novels and Selected Writings of Amy Levy Amy Levy, The Romance of a Shop and Reuben Sachs
- October 26
- Amy Levy, selected poetry, all stories and essays in text
Begin reading Daniel Deronda
Quiz on Amy Levy - November 2
- Discussion of British Proto-Zionism
Daniel Deronda, through Book 3, p. 305 - November 9
- Daniel Deronda, through Book 6, p. 611
- November 16
- Finish Daniel Deronda
Quiz on Daniel Deronda - November 23: NO CLASS
- November 30
- "The Jew" as Vampire: Dracula
T. S. Eliot, "Gerontion"
Bryan Cheyette, from Constructions of the Jew in English Literature and Society
Formal paper due in class
Take-home exam distributed in class
- December 7