Syllabus work in progress: Judaism & 19th-c. British Culture

In the fall, I'm teaching a graduate seminar on...well, read the post title.  This course will be something of a departure for me, in that I usually don't teach courses that look anything like my research, but I've had this idea kicking around in my head for a bit.

At this point, I know the novels I'm going to use, but am still working on the contextual materials & the critical sources (aside from the obvious Ragussis). The students have been asked to read The Merchant of Venice before the semester starts, if they're not already familiar with it, and will have Endelman on hand.  I may work in some of Trollope's short stories about Jews (although I'm not going to saddle the students with The Way We Live Now on top of Daniel Deronda).

As you can see, there are a fair number of, you know, Jewish authors in this course, as I'm trying to avoid the phenomenon of "how Christians wrote about Jews." 

I'll post the finalized syllabus at the end of the summer.

WEEK 1: Introduction/historical background/hands-on w/19th c. publications

WEEK 2: Philosemitism: Maria Edgeworth, Harrington; correspondence w/Rachel Mordecai

WEEK 3: Judaism and national identity I: Walter Scott, Ivanhoe

WEEK 4: Judaism and national identity II: Benjamin Disraeli, Alroy

WEEK 5: The Jew as criminal: Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

WEEK 6: Converting the Jews I: Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna, Judah's Lion;  Osborne Trenery W. Heighway, Leila Ada; excerpts from Dunlop, Memories of Gospel Triumphs... and Frey, Autobiography

WEEK 7: Converting the Jews II--The Jews Write Back: Grace Aguilar, The Perez Family; Charlotte Montefiore, Caleb Asher (um, maybe--I may wind up using more Aguilar + the Moss sisters instead)

WEEK 8: Judaism and national identity III: George Eliot, Daniel Deronda

WEEK 9: Daniel Deronda

WEEK 10: Jewish responses to Daniel Deronda: David Kaufmann, George Eliot and Judaism; Amy Levy, Reuben Sachs; E. A. Germains, Left to Starve, and No One Wants the Blame

WEEK 11: Converting the Jews III--Judaism and Race: Benjamin Farjeon, Aaron the Jew

WEEK 12: Jewish identity at the end of the century: Israel Zangwill, Children of the Ghetto

WEEKS 13-14: Student presentations