This presentation asks you to consider the current state of critical discourse in regards to the nineteenth-century British novel. Over the course of this project, you will undoubtedly discover a complex and multi-faceted landscape but avoid getting caught in the sloughs of detail. Your goal is to take the long view: what novels are being written about? are there certain theoretical frames that critics repeatedly use when considering the “novel” as a form? Do critics keep returning to the same questions (and answers)? Are they in conversation with each other? Which critical voices from the past can still be heard in today’s periodical literature? etc.
Two class sessions will begin with short presentations on the “state of the field.” You will be assigned a journal that regularly publishes articles on the nineteenth-century British novel. Your task is to survey and summarize the scope of critical discourse on the novel as represented in your assigned periodical. As suggested above, you’ll want to pay attention to the way (and which) individual texts are considered, as well as discourse surrounding the novel as a genre more broadly.
For the most current publications (i.e. 2019 and sometimes 2018), you’ll have to go to the library to look at codex copies of the journals but otherwise all the journals should be available online.
- You should look at no less than the past 2 years of a periodical’s run but no more than 4. Some of you will be assigned journals entirely dedicated to the novel (i.e. Studies in the Novel), but others will be looking at journals that publish on literature more broadly (i.e. Studies in Romanticism), and this will effect how many volumes you need to look at before coming to any conclusions.
- Although you will not have to write a formal paper for this presentation, I would like you to prepare a handout for the class that represents your research findings.
- Your goal is to inform the class about the treatment(s) of the nineteenth-century British novel in your assigned journal. Which novels are discussed? Which critical questions are posed? How are they answered?
- Don’t neglect book reviews of current publications.
- Pay particular attention to articles and book reviews that discuss the novels we are reading this semester. Those articles and reviews should be noted on your bibliography for inclusion on the class bibliography.
- At some point in your presentation you should briefly inform your classmates about what it takes to submit to the journal: what kind of articles are they looking for? what is the journal’s theoretical point of view? Refer to the journal’s website to find the requirements for authors interested in submitting material to that journal.
- Your in-class presentation should last no more than 10-12 minutes. You should not read from a script (or your handout) but you should practice what you’re going to say and how you will present your findings. We’ll break for questions after the 3rd presentation, so be prepared to pose questions or conundrums to your fellow students to get them talking.
- Consider presentation methods that allow you to quickly present your findings (i.e. charts, word clouds, graphs, etc.).
- In addition to turning in your handout to me, you are responsible for preparing a bibliography of at least 10-12 sources that you feel best represents the state of critical discourse for your assigned journal. Please accompany this bibliography with a short introduction and description of your findings. (In other words, put into prose the information on your handout).
- You should look at no less than the past 2 years of a periodical’s run but no more than 4. Some of you will be assigned journals entirely dedicated to the novel (i.e. Studies in the Novel), but others will be looking at journals that publish on literature more broadly (i.e. Studies in Romanticism), and this will effect how many volumes you need to look at before coming to any conclusions.
- Although you will not have to write a formal paper for this presentation, I would like you to prepare a handout for the class that represents your research findings.Your in-class presentation should last no more than 10-12 minutes. You should not read from a script (or your handout) but you should practice what you’re going to say and how you will present your findings. We’ll break for questions after the 3rd presentation, so be prepared to pose questions or conundrums to your fellow students to get them talking.
- Consider presentation methods that allow you to quickly present your findings (i.e. charts, word clouds, graphs, etc.).
- In addition to turning in your handout to me, you are responsible for preparing a bibliography of at least 10-12 sources that you feel best represents the state of critical discourse for your assigned journal. Please accompany this bibliography with a short introduction and description of your findings. (In other words, put into prose the information on your handout).J
Critical Discourse I (1/22): PMLA, Nineteenth-Century Literature, Novel: a Forum on Fiction, Studies in the Novel, ELH (English Literary History), and Nineteenth-Century Contexts. Other options: SEL, Narrative, or Genre
Critical Discourse II (1/29): ERR (European Romantic Review), Romanticism, Studies in Romanticism,Victorians, Victorian Literature and Culture, and Victorian Studies