This course covers fiction, biography, and personalities, and we shall also be considering the connections between these and politics, painting and interior decoration, as we explore the complex phenomenon known as the Bloomsbury Group. We shall be going on field trips to explore the London settings of works by the Bloomsbury Group and their enemies, to locate the writers’ houses, and to see Charleston Farmhouse and Monk’s House in Sussex, the homes of the painter Vanessa Bell and her sister the novelist and essayist Virginia Woolf. We shall be visited by a playwright, Amy Rosenthal, who has long been fascinated by the relationship between the writers D.H. Lawrence and Katherine Mansfield, and shall be able to discuss her play based on this relationship, and we shall watch dramatised versions of our chosen works by T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, George Orwell and D.H. Lawrence, as well as an impassioned polemic against Virginia Woolf.
Prerequisites:
None
Learning outcomes:
Students who complete the course will have developed a good understanding of the individual texts, and be able to relate them to their settings and to their aesthetic and historical contexts.
Method of presentation:
Lectures, seminar discussions, and student presentations. Field trips, a visit from a writer, and dramatised versions of texts.
Field study:
Field trips include a visit to Charleston Farmhouse and Monk’s House, walks around London and Hapstead.
Required work and form of assessment:
Class participation, including one class presentation (25%);
midterm exam (25%); final exam (25%); one 2,000 word paper (25%)
We shall combine field trips with academic work to widen knowledge and enable the development of informed opinion. Students will be expected to contribute to discussions on a regular basis.
content:
Week 1: T.S. Eliot’s long poem ‘The Waste Land’ (1922)
We shall watch a dramatic version of this poem, which William Carlos Williams called a ‘catastrophe’ – because he knew it was a great poem. We shall talk about T.S. Eliot as the grand old man of the twentieth century and also as a creative neurotic. In this opening class the course as a whole will be outlined, and class presentations will be assigned. Each student will also ‘adopt’ one member of the Bloomsbury Group.
Week 2: Katherine Mansfield’s collection of short stories The Garden Party and Other Stories (1924) We shall discuss all the stories in the collection, which must be read before class. We shall look at the short story as a literary form, and also at Katherine Mansfield’s troubled life, and particularly at her relationships with Virginia Woolf and D.H. Lawrence.
Week 3: Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway (1925)
We shall discuss the novel (which must be read in its entirety before class) as a pioneering work of fiction, and watch an extract from a film version. We shall discuss Mansfield’s influence on the work, and analyse in particular the London setting.
Week 4: Walk round Mrs Dalloway’s London
A detailed handout will be supplied for this walk, in which we shall retrace Mrs Dalloway’s footsteps at the opening of the novel, and note both what she observed and what she failed to observe. Additional points of interest on the walk will also be included in our own observations.
Week 5: Introduction to Charleston Farmhouse and Monk’s House
We shall carry out an intensive survey of the personalities of the Bloomsbury Group, and of their tangled and complicated relationships. We shall watch extracts from a variety of documentaries, and learn about the interior decoration, furniture and artwork of Charleston, principally the home of Vanessa Bell, and Monk’s House, the home of her sister Virginia Woolf and of Leonard Woolf.
Week 6: Visit to Charleston Farmhouse and Monk’s House
We shall visit both houses, and have a special guided tour of Charleston. We shall also visit the local church to look at the Bloomsbury frescoes. The gardens of both houses are beautiful, and we shall travel through some very pretty countryside.
Week 7: E.M. Forster’s novel A Passage to India (1924)
We shall watch part of a film version of this novel (which must be read in its entirety before class), and shall discuss the text in relation to Forster’s homosexuality and to his political ideas about empire. Comparison may be made with Leonard Woolf’s novel of 1912, The Village in the Jungle.
Week 8: Walk round Hampstead
A detailed handout will be supplied for this walk, on which we shall see many places of interest, in particular (from the outside) the houses of Katherine Mansfield and D.H. Lawrence, and the site of the bookshop in George Orwell’s novel Keep the Aspidistra Flying.
Week 9: D.H. Lawrence’s novel Women in Love (1924)
We shall watch an extract from a film version of the novel (which must be read in its entirety before class) and discuss it in relation to its philosophical ideas and to its portrayal of figures such as Lawrence himself, his wife, and Katherine Mansfield.
Week 10: Amy Rosenthal’s play On the Rocks (2008)
It is hoped that the playwright herself will be able to visit the class and talk about the way her play (which must be read before class) portrays D.H. Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, and their partners.
Week 11: George Orwell’s novel Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936)
We shall watch an extract from a film version of the novel (which must be read in its entirety before class) and discuss the novel in terms of its savage attack on the Bloomsbury Group. We shall pay special attention to Orwell’s very varied use of language.
Week 12: Conclusions
We shall reflect on what we have learnt, and what opinions we have formed, and also prepare for the final examination. We shall watch an impassioned polemic against Virginia Woolf in particular and the Bloomsbury Group in general. Do we agree with it?
Required readings:
(Any edition may be used)
Eliot, T.S. ‘The Waste Land’ (1922)
Forster, E.M. A Passage to India (1924)
Lawrence, D.H. Women in Love (1924)
Mansfield, Katherine. The Garden Party and other stories (1924)
Orwell, George. Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936)
Rosenthal, Amy. On the Rocks (2008)
Woolf, Virginia. Mrs Dalloway (1925)
Recommended readings:
Anscombe, Isabelle. Omega and After. Thames and Hudson, 1993.
Atkin, Jonathan. A War of Individuals: Bloomsbury Attitudes to the Great War. Manchester U.P.,2002. Bell, Quentin. Bloomsbury.Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1986.
Bell, Quentin. Virginia Woolf, A Biography. Hogarth Press, 1972.
Bell, Quentin. Elders and Betters. John Murray, 1995.
Bell, Quentin and Virginia Nicholson. Charleston: A Bloomsbury House and Garden. Frances Lincoln, 1997.
Bradshaw, Tony. A Bloomsbury Canvas: Reflections on the Bloomsbury Group. Lund Humphries, 2001. Feinstein, Elaine. Lawrence’s Women: The intimate life of D.H.Lawrence. HarperCollins,1993.
Garnett, Angelica. Deceived with Kindness. Chatto & Windus, 1984.
Hall, Sarah M. The bedside, bathtub and armchair companion to Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury. Continuum, 2007.
Hitchens, Christopher. Orwell’s Victory. Allen Lane, 2002. Holroyd, Michael. Lytton Strachey: A Biography. Penguin, 1971. Lee, Hermione. Virginia Woolf. Chatto & Windus, 1996.
Lee, Hugh (ed.). A Cézanne in the Hedge. Collina and Brown, 1992.
Marler, Regina. Bloomsbury Pie: The making of the Bloomsbury boom. Virago, 1998. Royle, Nicholas. E.M. Forster. Northcote House, 1999.
Shone, Richard. Bloomsbury Portraits. Phaidon Press, 1993.
Skidelsky, Robert. John Maynard Keynes. 2 vols. Macmillan, 1992.
Smith, Angela. Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf: A public of two. Clarendon Press, 1999. Spalding, Frances. Vanessa Bell. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1983.
Spalding, Frances. Duncan Grant. Chatto & Windus, 1997.
Tomalin, Claire. Katherine Mansfield:A Secret Life. Viking, 1987.
Woolf, Virginia. The Diary of Virginia Woolf. 5 vols. Ed. Anne Olivier Bell. Hogarth Press, 1977-84.
Woolf, Virginia. A Moment’s Liberty- The Shorter Diary. Abridged and edited, Anne Olivier Bell. Pimlico, 1990.
Notes:
This course is offered during the regular semester and in the summer. For summer sections, the course schedule is condensed, but the content, learning outcomes, and contact hours are the same.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Dr. Mary Condé holds degrees in literature, social anthropology and the politics of rights from the universities of Oxford and London. She is Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow in English at Queen Mary, University of London. Her most recent article (2009) was on the Canadian writer Martha Blum, her most recent guest lecture (2009) was at Yeditepe University, Istanbul, and her most recent conference paper (2010), on Rudyard Kipling, was presented at the University of Angers.
The Bloomsbury Era
This course covers fiction, biography, and personalities, and we shall also be considering the connections between these and politics, painting and interior decoration, as we explore the complex phenomenon known as the Bloomsbury Group. We shall be going on field trips to explore the London settings of works by the Bloomsbury Group and their enemies, to locate the writers’ houses, and to see Charleston Farmhouse and Monk’s House in Sussex, the homes of the painter Vanessa Bell and her sister the novelist and essayist Virginia Woolf. We shall be visited by a playwright, Amy Rosenthal, who has long been fascinated by the relationship between the writers D.H. Lawrence and Katherine Mansfield, and shall be able to discuss her play based on this relationship, and we shall watch dramatised versions of our chosen works by T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, George Orwell and D.H. Lawrence, as well as an impassioned polemic against Virginia Woolf.
None
Students who complete the course will have developed a good understanding of the individual texts, and be able to relate them to their settings and to their aesthetic and historical contexts.
Lectures, seminar discussions, and student presentations. Field trips, a visit from a writer, and dramatised versions of texts.
Field trips include a visit to Charleston Farmhouse and Monk’s House, walks around London and Hapstead.
Class participation, including one class presentation (25%);
midterm exam (25%); final exam (25%); one 2,000 word paper (25%)
We shall combine field trips with academic work to widen knowledge and enable the development of informed opinion. Students will be expected to contribute to discussions on a regular basis.
Week 1: T.S. Eliot’s long poem ‘The Waste Land’ (1922)
We shall watch a dramatic version of this poem, which William Carlos Williams called a ‘catastrophe’ – because he knew it was a great poem. We shall talk about T.S. Eliot as the grand old man of the twentieth century and also as a creative neurotic. In this opening class the course as a whole will be outlined, and class presentations will be assigned. Each student will also ‘adopt’ one member of the Bloomsbury Group.
Week 2: Katherine Mansfield’s collection of short stories The Garden Party and Other Stories (1924) We shall discuss all the stories in the collection, which must be read before class. We shall look at the short story as a literary form, and also at Katherine Mansfield’s troubled life, and particularly at her relationships with Virginia Woolf and D.H. Lawrence.
Week 3: Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway (1925)
We shall discuss the novel (which must be read in its entirety before class) as a pioneering work of fiction, and watch an extract from a film version. We shall discuss Mansfield’s influence on the work, and analyse in particular the London setting.
Week 4: Walk round Mrs Dalloway’s London
A detailed handout will be supplied for this walk, in which we shall retrace Mrs Dalloway’s footsteps at the opening of the novel, and note both what she observed and what she failed to observe. Additional points of interest on the walk will also be included in our own observations.
Week 5: Introduction to Charleston Farmhouse and Monk’s House
We shall carry out an intensive survey of the personalities of the Bloomsbury Group, and of their tangled and complicated relationships. We shall watch extracts from a variety of documentaries, and learn about the interior decoration, furniture and artwork of Charleston, principally the home of Vanessa Bell, and Monk’s House, the home of her sister Virginia Woolf and of Leonard Woolf.
Week 6: Visit to Charleston Farmhouse and Monk’s House
We shall visit both houses, and have a special guided tour of Charleston. We shall also visit the local church to look at the Bloomsbury frescoes. The gardens of both houses are beautiful, and we shall travel through some very pretty countryside.
Week 7: E.M. Forster’s novel A Passage to India (1924)
We shall watch part of a film version of this novel (which must be read in its entirety before class), and shall discuss the text in relation to Forster’s homosexuality and to his political ideas about empire. Comparison may be made with Leonard Woolf’s novel of 1912, The Village in the Jungle.
Week 8: Walk round Hampstead
A detailed handout will be supplied for this walk, on which we shall see many places of interest, in particular (from the outside) the houses of Katherine Mansfield and D.H. Lawrence, and the site of the bookshop in George Orwell’s novel Keep the Aspidistra Flying.
Week 9: D.H. Lawrence’s novel Women in Love (1924)
We shall watch an extract from a film version of the novel (which must be read in its entirety before class) and discuss it in relation to its philosophical ideas and to its portrayal of figures such as Lawrence himself, his wife, and Katherine Mansfield.
Week 10: Amy Rosenthal’s play On the Rocks (2008)
It is hoped that the playwright herself will be able to visit the class and talk about the way her play (which must be read before class) portrays D.H. Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, and their partners.
Week 11: George Orwell’s novel Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936)
We shall watch an extract from a film version of the novel (which must be read in its entirety before class) and discuss the novel in terms of its savage attack on the Bloomsbury Group. We shall pay special attention to Orwell’s very varied use of language.
Week 12: Conclusions
We shall reflect on what we have learnt, and what opinions we have formed, and also prepare for the final examination. We shall watch an impassioned polemic against Virginia Woolf in particular and the Bloomsbury Group in general. Do we agree with it?
(Any edition may be used)
Eliot, T.S. ‘The Waste Land’ (1922)
Forster, E.M. A Passage to India (1924)
Lawrence, D.H. Women in Love (1924)
Mansfield, Katherine. The Garden Party and other stories (1924)
Orwell, George. Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936)
Rosenthal, Amy. On the Rocks (2008)
Woolf, Virginia. Mrs Dalloway (1925)
Anscombe, Isabelle. Omega and After. Thames and Hudson, 1993.
Atkin, Jonathan. A War of Individuals: Bloomsbury Attitudes to the Great War. Manchester U.P.,2002. Bell, Quentin. Bloomsbury.Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1986.
Bell, Quentin. Virginia Woolf, A Biography. Hogarth Press, 1972.
Bell, Quentin. Elders and Betters. John Murray, 1995.
Bell, Quentin and Virginia Nicholson. Charleston: A Bloomsbury House and Garden. Frances Lincoln, 1997.
Bradshaw, Tony. A Bloomsbury Canvas: Reflections on the Bloomsbury Group. Lund Humphries, 2001. Feinstein, Elaine. Lawrence’s Women: The intimate life of D.H.Lawrence. HarperCollins,1993.
Garnett, Angelica. Deceived with Kindness. Chatto & Windus, 1984.
Hall, Sarah M. The bedside, bathtub and armchair companion to Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury. Continuum, 2007.
Hitchens, Christopher. Orwell’s Victory. Allen Lane, 2002. Holroyd, Michael. Lytton Strachey: A Biography. Penguin, 1971. Lee, Hermione. Virginia Woolf. Chatto & Windus, 1996.
Lee, Hugh (ed.). A Cézanne in the Hedge. Collina and Brown, 1992.
Marler, Regina. Bloomsbury Pie: The making of the Bloomsbury boom. Virago, 1998. Royle, Nicholas. E.M. Forster. Northcote House, 1999.
Shone, Richard. Bloomsbury Portraits. Phaidon Press, 1993.
Skidelsky, Robert. John Maynard Keynes. 2 vols. Macmillan, 1992.
Smith, Angela. Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf: A public of two. Clarendon Press, 1999. Spalding, Frances. Vanessa Bell. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1983.
Spalding, Frances. Duncan Grant. Chatto & Windus, 1997.
Tomalin, Claire. Katherine Mansfield:A Secret Life. Viking, 1987.
Woolf, Virginia. The Diary of Virginia Woolf. 5 vols. Ed. Anne Olivier Bell. Hogarth Press, 1977-84.
Woolf, Virginia. A Moment’s Liberty- The Shorter Diary. Abridged and edited, Anne Olivier Bell. Pimlico, 1990.
This course is offered during the regular semester and in the summer. For summer sections, the course schedule is condensed, but the content, learning outcomes, and contact hours are the same.
Dr. Mary Condé holds degrees in literature, social anthropology and the politics of rights from the universities of Oxford and London. She is Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow in English at Queen Mary, University of London. Her most recent article (2009) was on the Canadian writer Martha Blum, her most recent guest lecture (2009) was at Yeditepe University, Istanbul, and her most recent conference paper (2010), on Rudyard Kipling, was presented at the University of Angers.