Back in May when we were given the option for which topic to pick for ENG 910, Illustrated Books stood out for because of its focus on Victorian literature and that period of time. From high school up through university, I have read various pieces from this era so exploring a new aspect of Victorian literature struck me with potential. Since this is a capstone seminar, a lot of work from this course will be collaborative and it was interesting to hear the professor explain how Victorian illustrated books are seen as collaborative projects as well.

What has intrigued and surprised me most about this course so far is the existence of an online database like COVE itself. It seems brilliant to me that that the minds behind the body scholarship on a pre-digital era have fully embraced the digital in this way. To me, COVE demonstrates not only the importance of digital archives for the way it makes the obscure accessible (albeit for a small fee), but also for the way it harnesses the tools of the internet to enhance the scholarship being done.

While the Great Fire of London burned most of the city, 436 acres, (J.Clark) those are still rookie numbers compaired to California"s August Complex fire, 471,185 acres, the largest in state history (Fedschun). But seriously, it would have been devastating to see everything that you have known and worked for in your life go up in flames. I could image that the people of London would want to make their culture more permanent after watching it all disappear in flames. This goes along with the fact that they rebuilt the city mostly the same with only a few minor changes.

While I have taken courses before which analyze many of these Victorian-period stories, this is the first course I have taken dedicated to interpreting and examining illustrations. I don’t have a particularly large knowledge of art history as an English major, so I am excited to learn about these contextual connections and hopefully have a more comprehensive perspective on these stories and historical multimedia.

Honestly speaking, as I've ben enrolled in classes that delve into or touch on the Victorian period and its significant pieces, it usually ends up as either a hit or miss for me (interest-wise). But the fact that this course will be using both texts and the images accompanied with them from the time of it being published is a unique spin. I never heard of COVE and it’s intimidating (as I have no clue what I’m doing, still getting used to this as a whole—Zoom included).

My initial thought towards the course after our introductory class was interest. I've taken previous classes in the Victorian period but while those were focused on the text at the time, I haven't studied many aspects of the illustrations. I am looking forward to discussing imagery and illustrations though. I've taken a class in the past where we focused on illustrations and paintings and was interested in how to critically view an image and I'm looking forward to doing that in this class as well.

My initial thoughts going into this final Capstone seminar were conflicted. I was excited to participate in a more interactive and discussion oriented style of learning but was anxious about the content of the course. Victorian era literature is a genre that has come up often during my four and a bit years at Ryerson, to mixed reception. Oftentimes I found the genre to be interesting as the time period offers a unique perspective and voice in literature. Other times however, I find it can be a little indulgent and bland.