The Victorian Short Story

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course introduces students to the Victorian short story (1837-1901). Areas of focus will include the history and development of the short story as a prose fiction form, the print and publication market, and the many subgenres, such as the gothic tale, detective story, folk tale, and science fiction. The short story is a distinctive lens through which to view the Victorian era’s preoccupation with social, political, scientific, and moral questions. Through class discussions and written assignments, students will examine the formal qualities of the genre and develop their knowledge of the key debates of the period, such as economic and political progress and unrest; nostalgia; empire; religious controversies; decadence and the women’s movement. The majority of the readings are by British writers. There is no crossover with the Gothic Short Stories course.