UVU Victoria Literature, Fall 2021 Dashboard

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The Victorian period was one of great change for Britain. Comprised of the years of Queen Victoria’s reign (1837-1901), it featured the rapid industrialization and urbanization of Britain, and the radical expansion of the British empire. Although these changes improved the quality of life for some Victorians, many more were forced to work under inhumane conditions, live in unsanitary and insalubrious environments, or suffered the violent oppressions of colonial rule. While we may think of the Victorian period as a distant, different era, this class argues that Victorians faced some of the same issues we deal with today, including systemic racism, opioid addiction, ecological disasters, and public health crises, to name but a few. 

“Victorian Literature and Politics for the Present” revisits texts both familiar and new - canonical and not - through the lens of current events. Addressing a range of genres, this course examines historical and philosophical trends that shaped the era’s literature and were shaped by it. Specifically, it will explore how the Victorians addressed, and sometimes avoided, issues of racial oppression, class conflict, public welfare, and imperial plunder. Moreover, it will consider what parallels and throughlines we can draw between the Victorian era and the twenty-first century and contemplate the value of continuing to study Victorian authors and texts today. 

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Individual Entries

Place
Posted by Spencer Lauder on Tuesday, November 2, 2021 - 23:06

Something that has recently struck me as interesting was the location of 221B Baker Street. Why did Doyle decide to place his protagonists in this particular place? An important thing to point out at this point, is that there is no real 221B Baker Street. The address "221B Baker street did not exist in 1881, nor did it exist in 1887 when A Study in Scarlet was published and Baker Street house numbers only extended into the 100s." It's not altogether surprising that the address in a work of fiction is falsified, but it is interesting that Sir Doyle still placed this building in a well-known area of London, just under Regent's park.

So why did he place it there? Looking at the map of Charles Booth's London, which shows the degrees of wealth for various different areas of London in the 19th century, shows that the area of Baker Street where Holmes lives, is in the Middle and Upper-Middle Class and Well-to-do section of the map. This means that holmes was based in a...

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Chronology Entry
Posted by Spencer Lauder on Tuesday, November 2, 2021 - 22:34
Posted by Tristan Gaebler on Monday, November 1, 2021 - 17:02
Posted by Grace Rogers on Saturday, October 30, 2021 - 01:52
Chronology Entry
Posted by Austin Hermansen on Friday, October 29, 2021 - 23:02
Posted by Megan Arnita on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 - 20:55
Posted by Lexie Persinger on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 - 20:51
Chronology Entry
Posted by Jessica Paterson on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 - 18:10
Place
Posted by Dianne Freestone on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 - 00:20

In 1685. Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes which meant that French Protestants were no longer safe. This resulted in about 200,000 Huguenot refugees leaving France and moving, among other places, to England. One of the places they landed was in Spitalfields. One of the things the Huguenot’s were good at was silk production. They produced silk in Spitalfields for the next 200+ years, with peaks from 1690-1760, and again from 1800-1820, but after that, the industry rapidly declined.

There were several reasons for this decline. One reason was the rise in the cotton industry, which brought with it cheaper fabrics, and ultimately a less formal style of dress. Another was a free trade treaty with France in 1860. The treaty allowed for France to send in their silks for cheaper than they could be produced in Spitalfields. This was the death knell for the silk producing trade in England. Sadly, the death of that trade meant that by the end of the 19th century,...

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Place
Posted by Brielle Tidwell on Tuesday, October 26, 2021 - 21:31

Calicut, now known as Kozhikode, is a city in India that has a particularly interesting relationship with the British Empire. Originally the city played a large part in trade for Arab traders, but eventually become a central player in the British East India Company. The reason this city become so important is primarily due to the material Calico, whose name comes from the city itself.

Calico has roots at least beginning in the 11th century in India and in the 17th and 18th centuries it became a craze in the trade between India and Europe- particularly Great Britain. Indian weavers would create patterns that were exciting to the foreign taste, and much more elaborate than what was traditionally worn at home. Calico quickly was popularized in Britain, but this led to issues.

Calicut began to be a primarily produce calico as their main source of export, but Britain left them when manufacturers began to desire to benefit from the craze...

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