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
The Great Ormond Street Hospital was a hospital designed specifically for sick kids which opened on February 14, 1852. During the Victorian Era, it was known as "The Hospital for Sick Children." Dr. Charles West founded it when he learned about the high rates of infant mortality during this time period. He wanted to help sick kids be able to heal and live longer. This hospital was the first hospital in the UK dedicated to the treatment of children. When it first opened, it only had 10 beds and two physicians. Supporters of this hospital included Queen Victoria and Charles Dickens. Today, it is one of the world's leading children’s hospitals.
Today, many kids have been treated at this hospital and have been able to live a longer life. The array of skilled doctors and the evolution of medicine and treatments designed specifically for children that this hospital holds is what has helped kids heal from sicknesses throughout all the years. Even when the hospital first opened in...
moreBury St. Edmunds Jail was opened in 1787 and closed 1878, in the middle of the Victorian period. It was located in Southgate Green, near London, in Suffolk County. Bury St. Edmunds was one of the many prisons to hold many public executions in its day. However, with the decline of the approval of public executions during the Victorian period, that number decreased. Dissatisfaction began to grow as people started to express deep concerns about these horrific events. Despite this growth, public executions were still held with thousands in attendance. One of the last of these occurred in April of 1847. Catherine Foster was executed for poisoning her husband. They were married for a few months before she laced his dumplings with arsenic. The seventeen year old girl was one of the very few women to be publicly executed. It was for this reason that led the public to be horrified and fascinated—over 10,000 people attended.
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moreReconstructed several times from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, Newgate Prison in London housed many types of criminals from debtors to female/male convicts during the Victorian era. Newgate prison existed across from the Old Bailey—a criminal court. In Victorian England, Newgate prison was known for its harsh living arrangements and unsanitary conditions. Cells were packed with prisoners—up to thirty at a time—and vermin ran rampant.
The last reconstruction of Newgate prison took place in the 18th century under the direction of George Dance. Dance’s new designs for Newgate prison included isolated cells for prisoners described as the “most dismal places” (Kalman, 52). The prison was inverted, and all windows faced inward to give the feeling of confinement. This was due in part to Dance’s admiration of Italian architect, Palladio, who thought that a prison which lodged ‘meaner’ citizens who should have ‘fewer ornaments’—essentially...
moreNew South Wales is a state on the South-East border of Australia. Here, the first Australian colonies were organized by British colonists. In 1770, Capt. James Cook claimed the land and named it after King George III. Initially, this land broadly covered from the Cape York Peninsula all the way to Tasmania (originally named Van Diemen's Land). These areas were separated by the Great Dividing Range, a series of mountain ranges that closely follows the coast of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. Here you can find Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko. Eventually, this land was subdivided into the current area of New South Wales.
In January 1788, the colony consisted of around 1,000 people near modern Sydney. This distant colony was namely created to relocate convicts, particularly those who were rejected by American Colonists following the revolution. However, there may be additional reasoning as to why Britain was interested in this land. Specifically,...
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