Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of California Riverside/ENGL 172T Studies in Victorian Literature (Winter 2024)

This course explores the British literary and artistic movement of the 1890s known as Decadence, which desired to set art free from the claims of life. Its literature was characterized by world-weariness, a sense of social decline, and spiritual dispossession. Who were the Decadents, and what was their cultural contribution? How did they reconceive Victorian aesthetics and politics? How did their writings reconfigure gender, sexuality, and class identity? What was their relationship to the British Empire? The class begins with their roots in Aestheticism and ends by considering their cultural demise. We’ll read Decadent poetry, essays, short fiction, and the movement’s most powerful statement, Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. You will work in small groups to research and write or edit Wikipedia entries on Decadent figures and artworks through the Student Program at Wiki Education. Our public writing will produce knowledge beyond the course and UCR. Our work together emphasizes collaboration and empathy; please be ready to work with your classmates. The class is experimenting with new pedagogical techniques and unfamiliar web interfaces, so openness to learning new skills and improvising will be helpful. This course takes place in person without hybrid modality.