Sexuality, decadence and modernity: politics, culture and society in England, c.1880-1918
Barbara Caine
8 points
* Summer semester, 1998
* London and Clayton
* For
further details contact Professor Barbara Caine
* Taught in London,
January-February 1998, with daily lectures, tutorials and site visits and with
written work completed on return to Australia.
Objectives Students successfully completing this subject should have developed a knowledge of recent historical literature on this period, a general understanding of some of the theoretical issues involved in thinking about concepts such as `sexuality', `masculinity', `femininity', `modernism' and `decadence' in historical terms and a specific knowledge of their importance and meaning in this period. They should also have developed a knowledge of the literature and culture of the period and an understanding of the nature of cultural history.
Synopsis This subject will explore a range of political, social, and cultural developments in the period from the 1890s to the First World War. It will attempt to indicate the conections between major political and social developments and intellectual and cultural ones, focussing particularly on the ways in which questions about gender and sexuality came to the fore through imperialism, the advent of eugenics and sexology as well as in the emergence of `modernism' in art and literature. We will look at the emergence of new sexual identities; at the new and aggressive forms of masculinity associated with British imperial expansion and the ways they were contrasted with the effeminate men of subject races and with degenerate dandies and homosexuals as well as with women. It will also examine the new political forms and the interest in political culture and life-style which came into being with the development of socialism and of the militant suffrage struggle. The changing ideals of womanhood will also be explored through the many versions of the `new woman' and the militant. The subject will explore the literary groups and coteries of the time, especially the aesthetes and decadents of the 1890s and the early years of the Bloomsbury group. It will conclude with a discussion of the First World War, looking at the ways in which the war brought a reversal of traditional ideas and expectations of the sexes as women became financially and personally independent, while men suffered the traumas of trench warfare and shell-shock. Teaching this subject in London will enable students to explore the city itself and the subject will include guided historic walks, architectural tours, visits to museums, relevant historic houses and theatres as well as time in archives and manuscript rooms. There will be a number of guest lectures from English academics whose works are being read by students.
Assessment second year Seminar discussion (10 minutes): 10%
*
Tutorial paper (1500 words): 25%
* Essay selected from essay list (3000
words): 35%
* Examination (1.5 hours): 30%
Assessment third year Seminar discussion (10 minutes) 10%
*
Literature review (1500 words): 25%
* Research essay (3000 words): 35%
* Examination (1.5 hours): 30%
Preliminary reading
Bland L Banishing the beast: English feminism and sexual morality, 1885-1914 1995
Colls R and Dodd P (eds) Englishness: Politics and culture 1880-1920 1986
Harris J Private lives and public spirit: A social history of Britain, 1870-1914 Oxford, 1993
Hobsbawm E The age of empire, 1870-1914 1987
Langan M and Schwarz B (eds) Crises in the British state, 1880-1930 1987
Mangan J A and Walvin J (eds) Manliness and morality: Middle-class masculinity in Britain and America 1800-1940 1989
Roper M and Tosh J Manful assertions: Masculinities in Britain since 1800 1991
Tickner L Spectacle of women: The imagery of the suffrage campaign, 1907-1917 1989
Walkowitz J City of dreadful delight: narratives of sexual danger in late Victorian London 1992
Weeks J Coming out: Homosexual politics in Britain from the nineteenth century to the present 1997
| Published by Monash University, Clayton, Victoria
3168 Copyright © Monash University 1996 - All Rights Reserved - Caution Authorised by the Academic Registrar December 1996 |