Course Syllabus for Seminar on
Virginia Woolf and T.S.Eliot

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All core primary readings are on reserve.
*Denotes handout

1. (M, July 10) Discussion of research interests and goals; presentation of chronologies and bibliographies for two artists. First report assignments.

THE ISOLATE SELF: Philosophical Premises

2. (W, July 12) Early Eliot Poetry: from Collected Poetry (R), pp. 1-27.

Primary Reading:

• "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
• "Portrait of a Lady"
• "Preludes"
• "Hysteria"
• "Conversation Galante"
• "La Filia Che Piagne"

  Critical Reading:

• Brooker, Jewel Spears, "Eliot Studies: A Review and a Select Booklist." 236-46. In The Cambridge Companion to T.S. Eliot, ed. A. David Moody. (1994) R
• Torrens, James, "Eliot's Essays: A Bridge to the Poems." In Approaches to Teaching Eliot's Poetry and Plays (1988): 46-51.
• *Reading and Discussion Questions on Prufrock

  
  

  3. (Th, July 13) Early Woolf: Early short stories, from Complete Short Fiction (R)

  Primary Reading:

  "The Mark on the Wall"

  "Kew Gardens"

  "An Unwritten Novel"

  "A Haunted House"

  "Monday or Tuesday"

  "Blue and Green"

  Critical Reading:

  Zwerdling, Alex. Intro and Chapter One of Virginia Woolf and the Real World (1986), pp. 1-37.

  Gordon, Lyndall. "Our Silent Life: Virginia Woolf and T.S. Eliot." 77-95. In Virginia Woolf: New Critical Essays, ed. Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy. Totowa, NJ: Barnes and Noble, 1983.

  THE SELF IN HISTORY: Critical Prose

  4. (M, July 17) Eliot -- Early Critical Prose from Selected Prose of T.S.Eliot

  Primary Reading:

  Introduction by Frank Kermode

  "Tradition and the Individual Talent"

  "Hamlet and His Problems"

  "The Perfect Critic"

  "The Metaphysical Poets"

  "The Function of Criticism"

  excerpt from"Philip Massinger"

  
  

  Critical Reading:

  *Abyss Notes for "Tradition and the Individual Talent"

  Response for Day 4: Early Essays

  Sparks, Elisa Kay. "Old Father Nile: T.S. Eliot and Harold Bloom on the Creative Process as Spontaneous Generation." 51-77 In Engendering the Word: Feminist Essays in Psychosexual Politics, ed. Berg et al. U of Illinois P, 1989.

  

  5. (W, July 19) Woolf, A Room of One's Own (1929)

  Primary Reading:

  A Room of One's Own

  Critical Reading:

  Abyss Notes on A Room of One's Own

  Rosenman, Ellen. "Critical Reception." Chapter 3 of A Room of One's Own: Women Writers and the Politics of Creativity [Twayne's Masterwork Series]. (1995): 14-21.

  THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SELF: Elegies to War

  6. (Th, July 20) Eliot, The Waste Land (1922)

  Primary Reading:

  The Waste Land

  "Ulysses, Order, and Myth" from Kermode, ed. Selected Prose

  Critical Reading:

  Reading and Discussion Questions on The Waste Land

  *Gliederung of The Waste Land

  Cleanth Brooks, "The Waste Land: Critique of the Myth"

  *Dan Albergotti, Report on Jesse Weston, From Ritual to Romance

  *Danny White, Report on James Miller, T.S. Eliot's Personal Waste Land

  *Day 7: Response on The Waste Land

  

  7. (M, July 24) Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway (1925)

  Primary Reading:

  Mrs. Dalloway

  Critical Reading:

  Steinberg, Erwin R. "Mrs. Dalloway and T.S. Eliot's Personal Wasteland." Journal of Modern Literature 10.1 (March 1983): 3-25.

  

  THE WORLD AND THE DEVIL: Later Polemical Prose

  8. (W, July 26) Eliot, After Strange Gods (1934)

  Primary Reading:

  After Strange Gods* (out of print; will use xerox)

  

  9.(Th, July 27) Woolf, Three Guineas (1938)>/font>

  Primary Reading:

  Three Guineas

  

  THE SELF HARMONIZED: Synthesis of Self and Art

  10. (M, July 31) Eliot, The Four Quartets (1942)

  Primary Reading:

  The Four Quartets

  Critical Reading:

  *Four Quartets: Gliederung

  *Four Quartets: Versions of the Structure (Chart)

  *Freewrite on The Four Quartets

  *Response #12 The Four Quarters

  Harold Brooks, "Four Quartets: The Structure in Relation to the Themes"

  

  11. (W, August 2) Woolf, To the Lighthouse (1928)

  Primary Reading:

  To the Lighthouse

  Critical Reading:

  Raitt, Suzanne, "Critical Reception of the Text." in Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse (1990): 10-28.

  

  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ASSESSMENTS

  12. (Th, August 3) Eliot, late essays in To Criticize the Critic

  Primary Reading:

  "To Criticize the Critic"

  "From Poe to Valery"

  "American Literature and the American Language"

  "What Dante Means to Me"

  "The Literature of Politics"

  "The Classics and the Man of Letters"

  Critical Reading:

  *Day 10, Response on Social Prose

  

  13. (M, August 7) Woolf's reminiscences, Moments of Being

  Primary Reading-- Woolf:

  "A Sketch of the Past"

  Critical Reading--Woolf:

  Introduction to Moments of Being

  
  

  

  14. (W) Presentation of Research Projects