HUM 300 Fall 2009 Instructor: Mr. John Williams Public Art, Private Lives: The

Introduction

We will explore the many personalities and works of what is now called the Bloomsbury Group, a collection of artists, writers, historians, and social scientists who, in the early twentieth century, changed the face of intellectual thought and practice in Great Britain. This collection of people – all highly educated and talented – would gather in the home of and her sister on Thursday nights to discuss art, literature, life, and to gossip, drink whiskey, and try to come to terms with the ending of the Victorian Age and what modernity meant to them. In these rooms of 46 Gordon Square, London, life, literature, art, and ideas flourished, indeed, altered the way the British approached not only art and intellectual inquiry but love, friendship, and even sexuality.

What would have Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, Dora Carrington, and others of this impressive collection of people thought of the fact that they are now the subject of countless books, doctoral dissertations, and classes? Through their surviving relatives, and through their own writings, not much. There was little to bind these people together – they came from various academic, social strata, and artistic backgrounds; were not unified in social thought or convention; and approached life in early twentieth- century Britain in varied ways. What brought these people together, author Nigel Nicholson states, is love: love for each other and love of the ideal of art and artistic freedom. They may have had internal squabbles, but in the end they rallied around each other. We will study this complex and compelling group of artists, each talented and visionary by their own rights, but together, helped create a new vision for art, modernity, and Britain’s place in the increasingly complex world. We will also come to terms with the very public impact their art had on British culture.

Perhaps the most compelling question, however, is how does the concept of self filter into an artist’s work?

And for their private lives…a complex tangle, to say the least. More will be revealed.

Virginia Woolf in 1939

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Course Goals

To understand the historical, social, and artistic foundations of early twentieth-century Great Britain, from near the turn of the century to approximately 1941, as evidenced through the art and writings of the Bloomsbury Group.

This course fulfills the “H” general education requirement, Knowledge of Western Culture. We will be looking at a defining moment in Western culture, specifically British arts and letters, in the early twentieth century through the lens of the Bloomsbury group, a collection of writers, artists, and intellectuals. Primary sources will be utilized in the course, including novels and non-fiction works, and the Bloomsbury art collection at the Cornell Museum will also be imbedded into the course material. Historical incidents that will be studied concurrently with the course material will be the societal changes in post Edwardian Britain, World War I and its impact on British culture and the arts, and historical events leading up the beginning of World War II. The course will end with the suicide of Virginia Woolf on March 28, 1941.

Faculty Mr. John Williams Office: 217 Cornell Social Science Building Hours: 6 pm – 6:45 pm Tuesdays. Other hours by arrangement E-mail: [email protected] (I will only communicate with your Rollins e-mail account.) Phone: 407-595-1714

Duncan Grant painting in Sicily 1911

Required Texts

Lytton Strachey, Eminent Victorians (Random House) Nigel Nicholson, Portrait of a Marriage (Orion Books) Virginia Woolf, Moments of Being (Harcourt) Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway (Harcourt) Vita Sackville-West, All Passion Spent (Carroll & Graf) (Must get outside of Rollins College bookstore – available at Amazon.com and other on-line sources) Peter Stansky On or About December 1910 (Harvard University) E.M. Forster Maurice (WW Norton & Co.)

2 Reading

It is imperative that you keep up with your assignments. Some of the works we will study this term are difficult, but my assumption is that this is a 300-level Humanities course, and therefore you should be challenged. I have a suggestion: find a room of your own to read in that has no distractions. As Virginia Woolf so aptly wrote, all she needed was a room of her own and she could create. Dedicate yourself to the art of reading in a room of your own, and you may find yourself lost in the craftsmanship of superb writers.

HUM 300 “At Home”

On November 24, you as a collective group will be responsible for arranging, in class, an “at home” to discuss the major findings of your last paper. It will be up to the class to design this project; we will be discussing at more length what occurred at the “at homes” at 46 Gordon Square, so you will want to begin thinking about how to arrange the last class session. This project will not be graded, but rather will be a jumping-off point to introduce your topic to your colleagues and to generate discussion regarding your major work and how it ties into this class. It is meant to be enjoyable and a learning experience. One caveat: no alcohol, please. Rollins College does not allow alcohol in classrooms. While Bloomsbury served “whiskey and buns” at the “at homes,” these functions occurred in a private home, not a college campus!

Paper Assignments:

Each paper should be in essay format. This means that each paper should include an introduction with a clear thesis statement and an indication of lines of argument, the body of the essay, and a conclusion. All citations should follow The Chicago Manual of Style.

Paper #1: Due on September 22. A 500-word essay, double-spaced and typed or done on a word processor. You will choose from one of three questions handed out in class on Feb. 6 after visiting the Cornell Art Museum.

Paper #2: Due on October 27. A 650-word essay, double-spaced and typed or done on a word processor. You will choose from one of three questions handed out in class on October 13.

Paper #3: Due on November 24. A 2,500-word essay, double-spaced and typed or done on a word processor. You must come up with your own topic and must meet with me individually during my regular office hours to get approval of your topic. This paper must focus in on one of the members of the Bloomsbury Group and offer an analysis of how this person and her/his art represented both the ideals of the Bloomsbury Group and the relationship between their public art and their private lives. As an example: how did the hidden sexuality of E.M. Forster have an impact on his novels? Why did Virginia Woolf pattern the family in her novel after her own family? How did madness influence the artistic endeavors of Mark Gertler?

You need to use at least three scholarly sources and one article from a scholarly journal beyond the required course reading. I always want students to research and write on a topic that they are interested in, so challenge yourself. Caveat: No use of any online research is allowed without my approval for any of your papers – there are many sites that are not legitimate scholarly sources.

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Late Submission of Papers

The policy of Rollins College regarding incomplete work states: “A grade of ‘I’ indicating that the work of a course is Incomplete may be assigned only when circumstances beyond the control of the student, such as illness or necessary absence from the campus, have made it impossible for the student complete the work of the course within the normal period.” I adhere strictly to this policy. I have also adopted the following regulation to discourage the late submission of course work. All work must be submitted on the due date announced. The final grade of work handed in late will be lowered by one grade (e.g., B- to C+) for each calendar day beyond the due date. Work submitted later than seven calendar days after the due date will be unacceptable and will receive no credit. There are no exceptions to these penalties.

Academic Honor Code

Membership in the student body of Rollins College carries with it an obligation, and requires a commitment to act with honor in all things. Because academic integrity is fundamental to the pursuit of knowledge and truth and is the heart of the academic life at Rollins College, it is the responsibility of all members of the College community to practice it and report apparent violations. The following pledge is a binding commitment by the students of Rollins College:

The development of the virtues of Honor and Integrity are integral to a Rollins College education and to membership in the Rollins College community. Therefore, I, a student of Rollins College, pledge to show my commitment to these virtues by abstaining from any lying, cheating, or plagiarism in my academic endeavors and by behaving responsibly, respectfully and honorably in my social life and in my relationships with others.

This pledge is reinforced every time a student submits work for academic credit as his/her own. Students shall add to all papers, quizzes, tests, lab reports, etc. the following handwritten pledge followed by their signature:

“On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this work.” (Then your signature)

Material submitted electronically should contain the pledge; submission implies signing the pledge.

Students With Disabilities

Rollins College is committed to equal access and does not discriminate unlawfully against persons with disabilities in its policies, procedures, programs or employment processes. The College recognizes its obligations under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to provide an environment that does not discriminate against persons with disabilities.

If you are a person with a disability and anticipate needing any type of academic accommodation in order to participate in this class, please make appropriate arrangements with the Disability Services Office, located in the Thomas P. Johnson Student Resource Center, (407) 646-2354. [email protected].

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Attendance Policy

You are expected to attend all classes. Excessive absences can lower your grade; remember, one night of class is equivalence to three classes in the day program. If you miss more than two classes, you may want to drop the course. Attendance will be taken weekly. Please read all works prior to the class and be prepared to participate. This does not mean that just be showing up you participate; rather, I want you to be engaged in the class and ready to talk about the material at hand. Quality of participation is very important in determining borderline grades, and can, for example, make the difference between a B- and a C+ or an A- and a B+.

Class Decorum

Please have all pagers, mobiles, and other electronic devices on the off position. It is extremely annoying to have such devices going off, forcing your colleagues and your instructor to listen to Bach, Beethoven, rings, bells, whistles, and other noises emanating from said devices. In addition, you are free to disagree with your colleagues, but you cannot personally attack those people whose ideas are opposed to yours. A facet of being an educated person is that understanding that other people may not agree with you. If you engage in any threatening or offensive behavior, you will receive a private warning from your professor; if you continue to belittle or personalize your responses to your peers, a written notice will be given to the Dean of Holt School requesting a meeting with you, the dean, and your instructor.

P.S. Your instructor has banned the use of computers in the classroom unless you have a disability that requires you to use a computer in class. This will have to be approved by the Disability Services Office. Why the fuss? There have been complaints in previous classes about students surfing the internet, playing games, instant messaging etc. What would have Virginia Woolf done? Please keep in mind she handwrote all her manuscripts -- no computer, not even a typewriter. If she could do that, so can you, at least in class.

Examinations

There will be two essay and short-identification examinations this term. The midterm examination will cover material from the first half of the course, while the final examination will be comprehensive.

Final Grade

The final grade in the course will be determined from the following formula:

Essays: First, 10 percent; Second, 15 percent; Third, 25 percent Class participation: 15 percent Midterm: 15 percent Final: 20 percent

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Calendar of Events

Date Topic Assignment

August 25 Introduction to the course

September 1 Art and history Stansky, pp 1-124

September 8 Art and history (continued) Stansky, pp 125-173

September 15 Cornell Museum (meet at the museum at Questions for paper #1 handed out 6:45 pm) September 22 Biography Strachey, chapter about Florence Nightengale; Stansky, pp 174-251 First paper due

September 29 Biography (continued) Strachey, chapter about General Gordon

October 6 Fiction and autobiography Forster, Maurice (read entire work)

October 13 Midterm Questions for paper #2 handed out

October 20 Time, reality, art Woolf, Moments of Being

October 27 The family and a novel Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway Second paper due

November 3 Mrs. Dalloway, continued

November 10 Another view of women Sackville-West, All Passion Spent

November 17 Public airing of private matters Nicholson, Portrait of a Marriage

November 24 The “at-home” event Third paper due

December 1 Final examination

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