What particularly interested me the most about annotating Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol was reading the textual version of the story. When reading the graphic novel, I was able to visualize what events were happening but was not even as much of an in-depth analysis of the text. This way, I was able to consider specific sentences and words that were used in a deeper way, allowing me to see more characterization, themes, and settings. This method of reading the text also helped me understand John Leech’s illustrations. The use of light in the story is incredibly symbolic and is commonly present in the illustrations. This is a reference to Scrooge being referred to as darkness, or prefers the dark, numerous times within the text. The differences between the illustrations that were woodcut and the others was incredibly interesting to view the detail between them.
Victorian Illustrated Books (ENG910 F2020) Dashboard
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
In this week's class, we focused on annotating both the text and the images of A Christmas Carol. What I found most interesting from annotating the text was the content annotations. Craft annotations are typically what we have to do when engaging with a text in order to draw out meaning. However, looking out for words or phrases that feel uniquely applied or that are not familiar is something I will occasionally neglect. It was especially interesting doing this with a Victorian Era text, as there are phrases and objects that simply are not prominent anymore, but are so naturally embedded into the text that I will occasionally gloss over them without second guessing. Revisiting these elements helps provide additional contextual information for the Victorian Era a novella like A Christmas Carol exist in. I also found the illustration annotations interesting, particularly in seeing how Leech was able to use light in the black and white woodcuts. The steel...
moreI found it interesting how disparate Leech's illustrations for A Christmas Carol are (so much so that I assumed they were done by different artists upon first reading it) in terms of style, method, and tone. Stylistically, the illustrations range (depending on tone, it seems) from particularly caricature-esque and cartoony to more Gothic and realist -- "Mr. Fezziwig's Ball" and "Scrooge's Third Visitor" examples of the former style, and "Last of the Spirits" and the woodcut from the second stave examples of the latter stlye. Methodically, the mix of steel-engraving and wood-engraving illustrations in a single work is interesting to me; I wonder how often in this era different methods were used for one book. The different methods seem to compliment the disparate styles and tones as well, as the steel-engraving method facillitates the lighter, caricature style illustrations while the wood-cuts facillitate the darker, realist illustrations. Tonally, the diversity obviously...
moreAlthough A Christmas Carol is such a popular well-known text, I hadn't read it before this class. Sure, I'd seen the movies during Christmas time and I know of the story but I hadn't paid much attention to it let alone the illustrations. I really enjoyed how the story was written. I was interested in Dickens's use of descriptive writing without seeming like he's droning to fill up space. I liked how he made references to other texts such as Hamlet and spoke to the reader instead of at them. I specifically found how he described Scrooge interesting. He made these references to Scrooge's care for Marley and showed Scrooge as sentimental and caring but then, as we know, Scrooge would turn back around and be horrible to those around him. While I knew the story had illustrations, I had never seen them before. It was interesting to learn about the different types of illustrations and mediums used and how they didn't hold a specific theme. Some...
moreToday's lecture focused on Charles Dickens' infamous novella, A Christmas Carol. Although, the text is quite popular with its various adaptations, I have never actually read the actual text before taking this course. One of the most interesting things I noticed while annotating this particular text is that Dickens has a fondness for flowery writing and can go on endlessly describing whatever he is focusing on. As a result, I came across lots of words that I did not know or had different connotations in the 1840s versus now. One such word was: apoplectic which means extremely angry or indignant. Another thing that I found interesting was that in terms of present adaptations are relatively faithful to Dickens' vision (atleast in my opinion). John Leech's illustrations were striking and very beautiful, especially the image, "The Third Visitor"; this is likely due to its vibrant colours in comparison to the other images. I appreciated the effort and skill needed to create...
moreFor today’s class we were tasked with annotating Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol and working with John Leech’s illustrations for the novella. I found it surprising to learn that illustrations were included with the book when it was first published. This adds to the importance of looking at image, text and context in relation to each other. It was also interesting to learn about the different types of drawings Leech created for the novella and discuss as a class the impact of these illustrations. Who knew that there was so much detailed information online just about the illustrations! When it came time to annotating the text, I found it easy to write about the craft of the story because I’ve spent so much time practicing this type of analysis in school that it was easy to comment. As for the content annotation, I found it a little more challenging because it meant looking for detail within the text to highlight that would require pursuing further research to truly...
moreThis week's lesson focused once more on image-and-text interplay; however, there was an emphasis on annotation for the purpose of illuminating various aspects of the text to the reader. What I found most interesting about this class was the process of annotating itself. Annotating requires not only an understanding of a certain word or literary convention - it requires the writer to understand these elements within the context of the text that they are annotating. With this understanding in mind, I found the process of annotating to be much like writing a mini-essay as I selected parts of my assigned Stave. What I also found significant about annotating is the ability for word definitions to be interpreted within the context differently; for example, I defined the word "jocund" in the Stave Two, as did one of my group members. While our definitions were essentially the same, our interpretations of what the word meant contextually differed. Individual perspective seems to play an...
moreI found it very fulfilling to be able to look at A Christmas Carol, written by Charles Dickens and Illustrated by John Leech today in class with my fellow peers. I have read/seen all different types of versions of A Christmas Carol as a result of just simply growing up. To call it a classic is an understatement, but to be able to study it in a university class this semester is a full circle moment. The images curated by John Leech have extreme depth and they have the capacity to be analyzed to great lengths. With that being said, I particularly enjoyed looking at the image titled “Marley’s Ghost”. The energy that the photo possesses is an eerie one, having life faced with death and a harsh reality of what is to come if you become too greedy in your present life. The image is cold, with little light and darkness weighing over Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley. The candlelight in the middle can be interpreted as the little glimpse of hope that scrooge has in regard...
moreI found that collectively annotating A Christmas Carol was an interesting experience because it really brought numerous minds together and enriched the concepts and the novella even more so. I personally liked how annotating and researching about the image further reveals things that I haven’t really noticed or paid attention to prior—the significant details put into things. It’s to actively engage with the reading and understanding its references. Annotating also helps in understanding words that we might’ve encountered in modern time but how their meaning had been different when the context is placed within the 19th century.
One thing I found kind of at odds was Charles Dickens’ purpose of writing the novella. I understand he wrote it after realizing how horrible the conditions of the working class were—with the Poor Law and exploitative measures of the elite class. At the same time, the...
moreIn creating annotation for Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, I was most interested in the craft annotation. It is simple enough to look up a word or phrase we do not understand and give it context; the annotations for literary aspects are more subjective for creativity and interpretation. For example, my content annotation was on “coach-and-six,” an expression unfamiliar to me. With a quick Google search, I was able to determine that this phrase references a carriage pulled by six horses. A very literal explanation, one that is not open to interpretation. Whereas for my craft annotation, I chose a piece of imagery, “ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air.” While it is quite clear what image the author is creating, the exact details are will differ amongst readers, allowing each individual imagination to create a unique picture. I think this novella is extremely relevant to the...
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Individual Entries
Southsea is a seaside resort town near Portsmouth in England. This is where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle established his independent practice of ophthalmology at 1 Bush Villas in Elm Grove. Due to its slow start and limited clientele, Doyle was able to focus his attention on writing his short stories. This practice played an important role in developing Doyle’s career as this is where he experienced many failures and successes. Though his medical practice proved unsuccessful, the spare time Doyle was left with while waiting for patients allowed him to delve deeper into his creative side. This would later prove to be advantageous when in 1891 Doyle was able to abandon medicine and focus solely on his writing due to the spectacular success of his Sherlock Holmes short stories.
Principal sources:
https://www.visitportsmouth....
moreLondon and Cambridge Macmillan and Co. 1862 was located at 16 Bedford Street, London. This was the publishing company that published Goblin Market and Other Poems by Christina Rossetti. Christina Rossetti’s, “Goblin Market” was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood because her brother was a founding member and she would often pose for their art, as well as she would visit their exhibits and their meetings would be held at their family home. This is significant because she brought the Pre-Raphaelite influence into her writing, as well as her art, to be able to bring agency to women. In the poem, she was interested in showing the intimate bond between sisters. By doing this she portrayed women in a way that was not society acceptable at the time, as having agency with their words, actions and relationships.
Source: “Macmillan and Co.” The British Museum...
Earlier in its creation in 1953, it was called HMH Publishing then became known as its given name today. Playboy Enterprises Inc. had been an adult entertainment business that made its reputation on the sensuality and objectification of women - marketing their magazines towards men through the passivity and consumption of the female image. At the same time, the significance of this location plays into Betty Friedan's demand of women's representation in mainstream media and what she had planned on endorsing. Kinuko Craft, working within a male-orientated space, had made her reputation and presence known through her art (honing her skill and bringing female perspective). In turn, her art implies women being sexually autonomous and beign able to explore their sensuality.
The Oxford Union Society is where the Oxford Union Debating Hall is located, in which the murals painted by popular Pre-Raphaelite artists are featured. The murals were painted at the same time that Pre-Raphaelite art was regaining popularity in 1857, alongside the publication of the Moxon Tennyson. This location has significance to the image that I am choosing to curate because of the probably overarching themes across the various images – ones of religion, scenes of nature, and other images all “inspired by realism.” Similarly, these murals would have gauged the same public reaction that the Pre-Raphaelite illustrations published in the Moxon Tennyson would have. Pre-Raphaelite art became so popular that the pieces were considered artifacts of collection for the middle class, and as such was featured at institutions such as the Oxford Union Debating Hall.