House of Wits: The Intersecting Wor(l)ds of the James Family

English 271/ Bryn Mawr College/Anne Dalke
Spring Semester, 2010
MW 1-2:30,  in English House Lecture Hall

Log In   Our Class Commonplace Book    Class Notes        
Web Papers: on Alice; on Henry, on William and on 'em all..
Photos: Field Trip to Morris Woods
& Final Performances

Instructions for Preparing/Posting in the Commonplace Book;
Webpapers;  Final Portfolio and Self-Evaluation

"In the world of James, there are no absolutes, no final truths, no static realities"
(Siri Hustvedt, A Plea for Eros: Essays, 2005 ).

This course is conceptualized as an extended visit with one of America’s most interesting and influential families: the unruly, expansive children of Henry James, Sr. We will focus on the remarkable writings of three of them: the diarist Alice, who became a feminist icon; the great novelist Henry; and the groundbreaking psychologist and philosopher William. Attention will also be paid to contemporary representations of them and applications of their work including Susan Sontag’s play Alice in Bed and Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing.

In a series of linked writing projects, students will 1) contribute weekly to our on-line class commonplace book; 2) write three papers about the relationship of the work of each one of the James siblings to that of someone else; 3) create a final project examining the role of the Jameses in contemporary culture. In addition to regular postings in the on-line commonplace book, a total of twenty-four pages of writing will be required by semester’s end.

Course Requirements:
Bi-weekly attendance and participation in class
10 postings in our commonplace book kept on the world-wide web
Three 4-pp. papers, posted on-line by 5 p.m.:

• F, 2/5: thinking aloud about Alice James in relation to....?
  
• F, 3/5:  thinking aloud about Henry James in relation to...?
• F, 4/23: thinking aloud about William James in relation to...?
  

Reading Schedule

M,  Apr. 12 "Hegel and his Method"; rpt. Comprehensive Edition, 512-529.

W, Apr. 14   3 diary entries (February, April, 1870),
rpt. Comprehensive Edition, 6-8.

Paths to Storytelling as Life: Fellow-Traveling with Richard Rorty

Paul Grobstein, a Bryn Mawr "neurobiologist with a life-long interest in understanding why people behave the way they do," will join us for this class, to talk about "William James from There to Here."

12:30 p.m. Fri, May 14:  12-pp. final project (on the contemporary implications of the work of the James family*), portfolio and self-evaluation due

*As inspiration, William James's words on the death of his brother: "I feel abandoned and afraid, even as a lost child. But he is a possession, of real magnitude, and I shall find myself still living upon him to the end."