The dead as a doornail passage called to mind the satirical works of Johnathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" and Douglas Adams' The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Swift's essay (published in 1729) addresses the topic of famine and the lower class being codified as a burden on society. The greed and self-righteousness of the upper class which Swift counters in his essay are still prevalent at the writing of A Christmas Carol. The question arises of whether this exploitation can be changed on a grand scale. The structure of capitalism enforces exploitation and it seems inconceivable to alter the system of society as a whole. Even though Scrooge is no longer a miser at the end of the tale, the system which grants him power and torments the lower class remains in full strength. All the story stands to do is to encourage those in power to do some acts of charity. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy addresses similar themes such as the failure of...
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Description
Students in Lorraine Janzen Kooistra's English Capstone Seminar at Ryerson University in Toronto in F2020 aim to make a virtue of pandemic necessity by engaging collaboratively and critically with the digital surrogates of a wide variety of Victorian illustrated books published between 1843 and 1899.
Using the interpretive model of image/text/context for both synchronic and diachronic analyses, and drawing on a range of digital tools, this course aims to understand the past through the present and the present through the past.
Our study begins with Charles Dickens's iconic Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas, illustrated by John Leech (1843), then turns to two examples of poetry and illustration: Alfred Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott," illustrated by Pre-Raphaelite artists William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1857); and Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market," illustrated by her brother, Dante Gabriel (1862). These mid-century works will provide the foundation for our study of the illustrated books that proliferated at the end of the century. We'll analyze a variety of fin-de-siècle genres and styles, starting with Arthur Conan Doyle's popular detective stories, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, illustrated by Sydney Paget (1892). Next up is Salome: A Tragedy in One Act, Oscar Wilde's censored play based on a biblical story, which was infamously "embroidered" by decadent artist Aubrey Beardsley (1894). Fairy tales and fantasies aimed at adult audiences allowed counter-cultural writers and artists to protest existing norms and imagine other worlds; our examples are Laurence Housman's self-illustrated collection, The House of Joy (1895) and Clemence Housman's gothic novella The Were-Wolf, with wood-engraved illustrations by the author after her brother Laurence's designs (1896). The Annancy Stories, a self-illustrated collection of folktales by Pamela Colman Smith, is the first-known publication featuring this Jamaican trickster figure (1899). Students examine the final work, A Christmas Carol: The Graphic Novel (2019), for evidence of the legacy of Victorian illustrated books today.
The following texts are available in COVE (see D2L for the other digital surrogates):
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas (1843): A COVE Studio Text for class annotation
Clemence Housman, The Were-Wolf (1896): A COVE Annotated Edition
Christina G. Rossetti, Goblin Market (1862): A COVE Annotated Edition
Alfred Tennyson: The Lady of Shalott (1857): A COVE Studio text for class annotation
Victorian illustrated books resulted from the collaboration of a number of social agents, including authors, artists, engravers, editors, publishers, and readers. Using the COVE toolset, students and instructor work collaboratively to build resources that critically curate Victorian illustrated books in cultural contexts ranging from the nineteenth century to the present.
We will use the COVE annotation tool to hone our close reading and editorial skills. In COVE Studio, each student will provide TWO TEXTUAL ANNOTATIONS, one on "content," one on "craft," for Dickens's A Christmas Carol and Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott."
We will use the Gallery Image tool to provide bibliographic and contextual information and iconographic commentary and analysis on illustrations, and to associate these with events in the Timeline and places in the Map.
We will use the Gallery Exhibition tool to critically curate illustrated books in cultural contexts, situating works synchronically, within their originating moment of production and reception, and diachronically, in terms of their ongoing moments of production and reception.
We will use the COVE Timeline tool to provide information about historical events relevant to Victorian illustrated books, both at the time of their first publication, and in their ongoing re-production over time and across media.
We will use the COVE Map tool to associate places relevant to illustrated books and their makers and the cultural contexts that we showcase in the Gallery and on the Timeline.
Galleries, Timelines, and Maps
This week's class presented many interesting challenges as we began our first annotation assignment for Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. I found the process of annotation to be incredibly interesting and engaging. Through these annotations I was presented with a great opportunity to research and analyze the text in more detail than I otherwise would be. I was able to learn about the historical context of many of the themes presented throughout the text. Victorian colloquialisms and societal conflict surrounding class and industry were all things that I was able to expand my knowledge of through these annotations. John Leech’s illustrations were particularly striking. I was unaware going in just how much effort was put into the complex process of creating and reproducing these images. Furthermore the incredible detail in each image, each so full of thematic...
moreThis week we focused more on the image and text relationship in The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. What I found interesting was reading my classmate’s annotation on the text and how they interpreted it from their point of view. I was especially intrigued by the historical contexts that one must be aware of (the Victorian period in this case) in order to fully understand and appreciate this story. For example, prior to this week’s class, I had no idea what the “Poor Laws” were, and therefore, did not get the reference when it was used by the character Scrooge. However, now that I know what it refers to, I understand how Scrooge’s comment on such laws as if they were truly helping the poor further illustrate his ignorance on poverty which was symbolized at the end of stave 2 where one of the children that come clawing out of the ghost of Christmas past is called “ignorance”.
Something else I found interesting was John Leech’s way of asserting his dominance over...
moreI really enjoyed the annotated exercise because it was interesting to do a close reading of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. I feel as though when I am required to read a text for class, I try to get through it as quickly as possible. Therefore, it was helpful to be able to do a close reading and dive into different words and phrases that were more complicated to grasp. I decided to write on the word “bore” for stave four. I decided to do this word because I realized that while encountering the sentence I didn’t know what the word meant, and I skipped over it and continued. This is something I believe most people do when encountering new words, therefore I again see the value in doing the annotations. I also enjoyed looking at the illustrated works and hearing the input of my peers. I think the illustrations are important because they demonstrate a time in which artists were trying to link images to words in a meaningful way. Leech did a good job at this as his images...
moreWhat I enjoyed most about todays exercise with A Christmas Carol was seeing the way that Leeche's illustrations represened Dickens's story. For the image that I curated which was the one entitled "Scrooge's third Visitor," I was able to see how the image was a direct reflection of the scene in the book that it was placed next to in the print copy. Leech produced a direct reflection of the character that Dickens wrote, as the description and image themselves were the same, and in doing so included delierate symbols to showcase what the Ghost of Christmas Present represents. As we discussed in the lecture, the Ghost of Christmas Present is representative of abundance and prosperity, which is shown in his wearing the colour green and having a torch and feast that mirror the cornucopia, otherwise known as the horn of penty. With the meanings behind the Ghost himself, it is essential that Leech used the steel-engraved method to produce this image, to ensure that all of the...
moreI really enjoyed reading Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol this week. It was so interesting to compare my prior knowledge of the story from movies and videos to the actual 1943 text. I noticed that many of the movies and video retellings of the story omits some of the content in the Staves such as the ball that Scrooge goes to when he is a young man during his journey through Christmas Past. I enjoyed reading the text and diving deeper into the characterization of Scrooge while also gaining a Victorian insight into Christmas time in 1843. Since this text was written so long ago, I found it difficult to understand some of the Victorian jargon and references, such as 'Ali Baba' and a 'smoking bishop' in Stave 1. Due to the Victorian jargon, I found the annotation exercise to be extremely useful in deepening my understanding of the text and the Victorian socio-economic references such as the working houses, which was created by the Poor Laws of the 1840s. In terms of content...
moreFor this week’s class we were tasked with analyzing an illustration for a particular Victorian text and looking for research related to the image. Rather than looking at the text itself, our primary focus was strictly on the image. It has been a long time since I have last looked at Goblin Market so I needed to find some information related to the poem to be able to understand the illustration we used. It is important to realize the connection that image, text and context have together because they each influence one another. Often I only think about the text and the context surrounding a story and look at how they work in unison together. I do not usually consider how illustrations are also valuable to the publication of a text and how they impact the perception of the primary text it is connected to. It was interesting to learn that Rossetti’s brother was the one who made the illustration for the poem and how Rossetti delayed the release of the poem until the...
moreWhile exploring the history of the illustrations in Christina Rossetti’s The Goblin Market, I was delighted to learn of her collaborative efforts with her brother Dante Gabriel. I am a huge fan of family collaborations whether their parent/child, sibling, or spousal, I think it’s beautiful to have such like-mindedness and shared passion with family members. What I especially appreciate of The Goblin Market was that Christina Rossetti was so obviously excited and appreciative of her brother’s illustrations that she delayed its publication so she could collaborate with him. The collaboration is particularly interesting because the title-page design reflects the love and care experienced in family life. Two sisters embracing each other appear to be sleeping, with their arms are wrapped tightly around each other and one sister cushion’s her head on the other’s chest shows the bond between siblings that is hard to achieve elsewhere. This image created feelings...
moreToday’s class introduced the first samples of research in this course, applying the pressure of the final Capstone project.
The focus of the group assignment was a short post on the “Victorian Illustrated Books Timeline”. I found it very hard to differentiate what and what not to include amongst the overwhelming amount of information. Speaking on the collaborative component of the breakout rooms, my group focused specifically on Christina Rossetti’s The Goblin Market. This poem seemed to me a recurring discussion in the realm of Victorian literature, and it was through our research today that I finally understood why. In a different course, I had to look at The Goblin Market through a...
moreI was surprised when exploring through the Victorian Illustrated books in class to find the variety of genres that they can expand to. Specifically, for the book I focused on, The House of Joy, I was intrigued to find out that it focused on adult fairytales, which is something that I would assume to be most likely intended for a younger audience, if produced today. It was interesting to see that each story began with an illustrated image, which improved my reading experience by placing a picture to help support my vision of the characters and setting. The stories all consist of strong, and somewhat mystical, vocabulary, including words such as “prince” and “fair sir”, sounding almost medieval and royal. Each story was also supported with a dedication to a woman or daughter, which suggests that there were different levels of power among genders back when this was published. Since this was released during a time period when men were considered superior to...
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Individual Entries
When she was 11, Colman-Smith and her parents moved to the capital of Jamaica from England after her father took a job with the West India Improvement Company. It is in Kingston that Colman-Smith was introduced to the Jamaican folklore she would later go on to bring to life in her illustrated Annancy Stories (1889). Despite only living here for four years, the folklore she encountered in Kingston clearly made an impression on Colman-Smith, as it influenced her to write not only Annancy Stories but another work incorporating Jamaican folklore several years later, and it may have contributed to her interest in the occult exhibited in her other works.
The movement for women’s suffrage took many forms and involved many different groups and societies. The National Union of Women’s suffrage Societies (NUWSS) campaigned peacefully and aided the movement by signing petitions and publishing pamphlets and newspapers. The women involved in peaceful actions were known as suffragists. Organizations such as the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and the Women’s Tax Resistance League (WTRL), resorted to more violent actions such as setting fires, vandalizing property, and hassling government officials. Women involved in the militant part of the Suffrage movement such as Clemence Housman, were called suffragettes. In 1910 Clemence joined the WTRL and participated in protests which called for members to withhold their tax payments until the right to vote was won. On Friday September 29th, 1911, Clemence was arrested outside of her Kensington home for purposefully resisting tax payment. Her arrest was supported by the...
moreCornwall, a county located in South West England, is an area famous for its abundance of rare metals and natural resources held underground. As a result it became a prime location for large industrial entities to take root and establish numerous mining operations during the early 1840’s . Unfortunately, like many mining operations throughout the country Cornish mines were infamous for their poor working conditions and exploitation of child labour. This location is of particular importance because it is one of the known mining locations visited by author Charles Dickens. Dickens was so outraged by the working conditions in these mines that he wrote a letter to The Morning Chronicle, a popular newspaper outlet at the time, demanding reform on behalf of the workers. Ultimately legislation was passed banning the employment of children under the age of ten underground and Dickens is now credited as being a staunch advocate of workers rights in the...
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