ENG 280XThe Politics of Sympathy

Catalog

ENG 280X The Politics of Sympathy - The novel is known for generating sympathy for different characters and perspectives. Early literary critics often praise this ability, but more recent scholarship has called into question the value and the ethics of sympathy. Victorian political advocacy is also characterized by a growing reliance on sympathy as an instrument for political change. This course will explore the role of sympathy in nineteenth-century politics as well as fiction. We will examine the following questions: What role does sympathy play in garnering support for political action? How did Victorian literature construct the relationship between sympathy and gender? What can sympathy achieve as a tool for political change and where does it fall short? What role does literature play in political movements? This course will focus particularly on women's involvement in the politics of sympathy, analyzing their role in advocacy for the abolition of the slave trade, greater rights for the working classes, and child labor laws. We will read fiction by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, and others.