Aims
This course aims to:
• introduce you to the key members of the Bloomsbury Group
• explore the achievements of these artists, writers and thinkers
• assess their contribution to British cultural life in the first half of the 20th century
Content
Why does the Bloomsbury group still attract attention today, a century after its heyday? This course introduces you to the fascinating group of artists, writers and thinkers who came together as a circle of friends, then went on to play an influential role in British cultural life in the early decades of the 20th century and beyond. We will focus on two novels, A Room With A View by E M Forster and Jacob’s Room by Virginia Woolf, as well as biography (Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey) and essays by Roger Fry and John Maynard Keynes. What bound this group together? How did they react to contemporary ideas of art, literature and political thought? What role did Cambridge play in the development of their ideas? What were their major accomplishments?
You will need to read the prescribed texts in preparation for the course as they will form the focus of analytical ‘close reading’ in class. Textual study will enable us to engage with the literary expression of ideas before broadening into wider debate on Bloomsbury’s influence upon fiction, biography, art theory and practice, and social history. The Cambridge Companion to the Bloomsbury Group provides an excellent overview of the ideas we will encounter, and you may want to extend your reading to include biographies of the key figures: Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Roger Fry, Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell, Lytton Strachey, John Maynard Keynes, E M Forster (see reading list).
Please purchase your own copy of the key texts: A Room With A View, Jacob’s Room and Eminent Victorians. Essays by Roger Fry and J M Keynes can be accessed via the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
Presentation of the course
You will be given a lecture presentation at the start of each session, followed by discussion sessions in pairs/small groups before coming together as a group for the sharing of ideas and further discussion.
Course sessions
1. Introduction: What was Bloomsbury?
2. Bloomsbury art: Fry, Grant and Bell (‘An Essay on Aesthetics’, Roger Fry)
3. Bloomsbury literature (1): A Room With A View, E M Forster.
4. Bloomsbury literature (2): Jacob’s Room, Virginia Woolf.
5. Bloomsbury politics: Eminent Victorians, Lytton Strachey; ‘Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren’, J M Keynes. Conclusions.
Learning outcomes
You are expected to gain from this series of classroom sessions a greater understanding of the subject and of the core issues and arguments central to the course.
The learning outcomes for this course are:
• to gain a knowledge of the primary texts and an understanding of their social and historical context
• to gain an understanding of key issues concerning members of the Bloomsbury Group
• to develop skills of close analysis of literary texts
• to be able to engage in and contribute to general debate on issues encountered on the course
Required reading
*Forster, Edward, A Room With A View, ed. Bradbury, Malcolm (London: Penguin Classics, 2000)
ISBN 9780141183299
Fry, Roger, ‘An Essay on Aesthetics’ (available on VLE)
Keynes, J, M, ‘Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren’ (available on VLE)
*Strachey, Lytton, Eminent Victorians, ed. Michael Holroyd (London: Penguin Classics 1989)
ISBN 9780140183504
*Woolf, Virginia, Jacob’s Room, ed. Kate Flint (Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics 2008)
ISBN 9780199536580
