This course meets on Wednesday nights from 6-9. Readings are listed below on the syllabus. In addition to completing the weekly reading, submitting the writing assignments, and attending class regularly and participating in in-cass discussion, you are required to participate in asynchronous Blackboard discussions every week. .

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the British Empire grew to encompass much of South Asia, significant portions of Southeast Asia, and a large portion of the African continent. Whether this happened through deliberate planning or through what one Cambridge don called "a fit of absence of mind," the fact remains that by the 1920s the British imperial domains covered a good fifth of the globe. In this course we will study how the Empire was represented in British fiction over a period from the 1840s through the 1920s. The writers we will discuss range widely in their views of the value of Empire -- some were harsh critics, some jingoistic celebrants of British imperial greatness, and some simply interested observers of what they saw as a tragic clash of cultures in which Britain found itself engaged. Although this is a discussion-based course, there will be some lectures on the historical background of imperial expansion supplemented by more general introductions to important background issues in British culture of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. You need not have studied nineteenth and twentieth century British literature previously. Assignments include 2 critical papers, 1 critical research paper, and regular participation in both Blackboard discussions and in-class discussions.

*You have the option to revise and resubmit one of the two critical papers for an additional grade. If you choose to do so, your first draft grade will count for 10% of your final grade and the revision grade will count for 10%. Revisions are due in the digital drop box on the final day of class, November 28.

The first two papers should be 3-5 pages in length. Topics can be found on Blackboard by following the "Writing Assignments" link. These papers are to be submitted to the digital drop box in Blackboard no later than 11:59.59 pm on the due date. Papers will be reduced a grade for every day they are late. Use MLA Format for citations.

A note on getting started: Effective note-taking on the novels is very important, because you will need to use your notes to find the evidence to support the claims you make in your papers. An effective literary thesis should assert something about the meaning of the work that is not obvious to everyone who has read it. Moreover, an effective literary thesis takes a stand on an issue of significant controversy over the meaning of the novel. The papers topics, which can be found on Blackboard in the "Assignments" area, will provide you with question prompts.

The final paper, a critical research paper, should be 10-12 pages in length. You should use at least three secondary sources. Again, topics will be found on the course Blackboard in the "Assignments" area.

Weekly contributions to online class discussion: These are mandatory in this class. Everyone is required to pose at least 6 questions to the group online over the course of the 16-week term. In addition, every student is required to respond at least once per week to other students' or my questions. You will be graded both on the frequency of your contributions and on the quality of them. The best strategy is to post at least 3 or 4 thoughtful responses and/or questions per week. Please be sure to make them thoughtful, paragraph-long responses, not quick, two-word responses, and be sure to observe the conventions of civil online discourse (no flaming or personal remarks about other students in the class). Questions may deal with the previous week's reading or with the upcoming week's reading. You may ask questions or make responses that relate current material to material introduced earlier in the course, but please do not pose questions about a novel that the rest of the class will not have read for two more weeks. Questions and responses should be posted no later than midnight MST on Tuesday of each week to be counted for that week.

Please note that all work done for this course must be your original work. If you make use of the insights of other writers, you must cite them in your papers using MLA citation format. Punishments for plagiarism can be very severe and may include a permanent grade of "failure with academic dishonesty" or suspension from the University. If you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism, please ask me.

These books are currently available at the ASU Bookstore. Novels not listed above can be accessed through Google Books. Details TBA. These include the following novels:

R. M. Ballantyne, Coral Island
Flora Annie Steel, On the Face of the Waters

The Kipling short stories are accessible on the Web through the link below. The secondary reading can be found in the JSTOR database provided you go through the ASU Library's validation page.

The British Empire Timeline

Clickable Map of the British Empire