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The finalists for the "add a new text to this course" are in! And it is an amazing list. A reminder: the course is the sophomore-level British literature post-1789, taught in this case to overwhelmingly nonmajors outside of the College of Liberal Arts. Thread of nominees:
From the Romantic period: Blake's "The Tyger," Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Shelley's Frankenstein. I'm particularly impressed by the Blake, since this was the first semester I *didn't* teach his work.
From the Victorian period: Dickens' Great Expectations.
(I confess this was a surprise, as most recommendations for full novels are)
(I confess this was a surprise, as most recommendations for full novels are)
Unsurprisingly (based on past surveys of students), C.S. Lewis made the list twice: once for The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and again for Out of the Silent Planet.
Also in the 20C: a bid for Eliot's "The Waste Land" and Orwell's 1984. (I have taught Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" but this semester dropped it)
The most recent inclusion? Slick Rick's "Children's Story" which was still dropped before these students were born.
Oh, and a 19C tie in one section so good that I am putting both up as finalists: Amy Levy's "A Ballad of Religion and Marriage" and Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor
