SoSe 22: PS-Surveying English Literatures: Women and Consumerism in Victorian Fiction
Susanne Schmid
Comments
The Victorian age saw the advent of the mass production of consumer goods, a high increase in shopping, speciality shops, and the rise of the department store. New luxury goods (cashmere, silk, tea) became affordable for the middle classes. Although consumerism and shopping concerned all parts of society, women were considered to be particularly prone to and endangered by the new shopping experience.
This seminar will look at a number of literary texts (a novel, stories, essays, theory texts) to highlight the new experience of female consumerism. Please read the following novel for our course:
Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley's Secret, ed. Lyn Pykett (OUP World's Classics, 2012).
In addition to reading texts and writing a term paper, you will be asked to prepare a short group presentation (including a Powerpoint presentation), which I will discuss with you in advance and which will be uploaded for the other students in the seminar.
close13 Class schedule
Regular appointments