Department of English

The British Empire--in Ireland, the Carribean, the Asian subcontinent, Australia, Africa and Canada--provided 19th Century Britons with a seemingly limitless field for the exploration of geographical, sexual, political, and subjective boundaries. In this course, we will explore the ways in which literary representations of England and its colonies made possible certain symbolic uses of empire. We'll read well-known works including Austen's *Mansfield Park* (a novel about an English country estate whose wealth depends on slaves laboring on an Antiguan plantation); Dicken's *Great Expectations* (in which a criminal transported to Australia provides for the greatness of the titular expectations) as well as less-known works of explorers, travel writers, colonial officials and armchair anthropologists. Theoretical readings on colonialism, gender and sexuality will also be part of our reading and discussion.