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Liberal Studies 563: the Bloomsbury Group LIBERAL STUDIES 563: THE BLOOMSBURY GROUP (Fall 2007 or Spring 2008) – Half Unit Instructor: Jay Dickson e-mail: [email protected] phone: 503-517-7906 Tuesdays, 7:30-9, ETC 208 Office hours: ETC 218 TBA ***Provisional syllabus (subject to change)*** Description: This course examines the writings, works and cultural impact of the Bloomsbury set, one of the most important of all English cultural groups which had an enormous impact on British fiction, painting, biography, economics, and social criticism in the first half of the twentieth century. The course will stress the major attitudes of the group derived from the ideas of the Cambridge philosopher G. E. Moore emphasizing the pleasures of human friendship and aesthetic appreciation, as well as their rejection of the artistic, social, and sexual restrictions of Victorian society. Much attention will be given to the writings of Virginia Woolf, the pre-eminent figure of the group, but we will also look at the fiction of E. M. Forster and Leonard Woolf; the aesthetic and cultural writings of Roger Fry and Clive Bell; the art and design work of Fry, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, and the Omega Workshops; and the biographical writings of Lytton Strachey. We will conclude the course by examining the great revival of interest in the group !and the subsequent cottage industry centered upon it" starting in the late 1960s. There will be several short papers for the course. Texts: *E. M. Forster, The Longest Journey !Penguin" *-----, A Passage to India !HarcourtBrace" *S. P. Rosenbaum, The Bloomsbury Group: A Collection of Memoirs and Commentary !U of Toronto P" *Lytton Strachey, Eminent Victorians !Oxford UP" *Leonard Woolf, Tales Told by Moonlight !Hesperus" *Virginia Woolf, Three Guineas !HarcourtBrace" *-----, To the Lighthouse !HarcourtBrace" *-----, The Waves !Harcourt Brace" *course reader *Richard Shone, The Art of Bloomsbury: Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell, and Duncan Grant !Princeton U" !optional" Schedule: 8/28 WEEK 1: Introduction 9/4 WEEK 2: What was Bloomsbury? Regina Marler, Bloomsbury Pie, #Introduction,$ pp. 3-17 !in reader" S.P. Rosenbaum, #Foreword$ !in Rosenbaum, ix-xv" Adrian Stephen, #A Bloomsbury Evening in 1909$ Lytton Strachey, #Monday, June 26th 1916$ !in Rosenbaum, 17-31" Virginia Woolf, #Old Bloomsbury% !in Rosenbaum, 40-59" John Maynard Keynes, #My Early Beliefs$ !in Rosenbaum, 82-97" Vanessa Bell, #Notes on Bloomsbury$ !in Rosenbaum, 102-13" Leonard Woolf, #Old Bloomsbury$ !in Rosenbaum, 141-6" 9/11 WEEK 3: The Victorian Heritage & Its Discontents Lytton Strachey, Eminent Victorians Virginia Woolf, #A Sketch of the Past$ !in reader" PAPER #1 DUE (2-3 pp.) 9/18 WEEK 4: “Fratribus”: The Intellectual Foundation (Part I) Matthew Arnold, #The Function of Criticism at the Present Time$ !in reader" Walter Pater, #Conclusion$ to The Renaissance !in reader" G. E. Moore, Principia Ethica !selections" !in reader" Leonard Woolf, #Cambridge Friends and Influences$ !in Rosenbaum 123-41" E. M. Forster, The Longest Journey, through #Sawston$ 9/25 WEEK 5: “Fratribus”: The Intellectual Foundation (Part II) E. M. Forster, The Longest Journey !all"; #What I Believe$ !in reader"; #Art for Art%s Sake$ !in reader" 10/2 WEEK 6: Art & Aesthetics Roger Fry, Vision and Design, 1-54, 164-70, 199-211 !in reader" Desmond MacCarthy, #The Post-Impressionist Exhibition of 1910$ !in Rosenbaum, 74-8" Virginia Woolf, #Roger Fry$ !in Rosenbaum, 158-170" Clive Bell, #Roger Fry$ !in Rosenbaum, 170-85"; #The Artistic Problem$ !in reader" Quentin Bell, #The Omega Workshops$ !in Rosenbaum, 316-9" Art selections from Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, Dora Carrington, The Omega Workshops PAPER #2 Due (2-3 pp.) 10/9 WEEK 7: Art & Fiction Virginia Woolf, #Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown$ !in reader" #Modern Fiction$ !in reader", #Kew Gardens$ !in reader", To the Lighthouse !though #The Window" * * * * F A L L B R E A K * * * * 10/23 WEEK 8: Putting It Together Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse !all"; #Professions for Women$ !on reserve" 10/30 WEEK 9: The Problem of Empire (Part I! Leonard Woolf, Tales Told By Moonlight E. M. Forster, A Passage to India !through section I: #Mosque$" 11/6 WEEK 10: The Problem of Empire (Part II) E. M. Forster, A Passage to India !all"; #The Other Boat$ !in reader" PAPER #3 DUE (4-5 pp.) 11/13 WEEK 11: Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Virginia Woolf, The Waves 11/20 WEEK 12: The “Real” World E. M. Forster, #The Ivory Tower$ !in reader"; #Jew-Consciousness$ !in reader"; #Three Anti-Nazi Broadcasts$ !in reader" Virginia Woolf, #The Leaning Tower$ !in reader"; Three Guineas 11/27 WEEK 13: Bloomsbury Reconsidered Leonard Woolf, #The Memoir Club$ !in Rosenbaum" F. R. Leavis, selections !in reader" Regina Marler, Bloomsbury Pie, pp. 263-84 !in reader" Brenda Silver, Virginia Woolf: Icon, pp. xv-xvii, 1-13, 28-31 !in reader" 12/10 FINAL PAPER (8-10 pp.) DUE.
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