[Hardy-l] RE: Teaching Hardy

[JoAnna Mink]

To Beth et al:
 
I'm excited that you're able to devote an entire course to Hardy and to introduce undergraduates to his works.  Am I correct in thinking the course is mainly for English majors/minors?  Though I haven't taught an entire semester on TH, I have developed some courses in which he was a primary focus.
 
An excellent introduction to Hardy, if you can get it here in the States, is the video "Thomas Hardy:Man of Wessex."  It is an effective mix of biography, landscape, novels and poetry.  I like to introduce students to his works with Far From the Madding Crowd and usually have good response.  I try to show some clips from the adaptations, as well as several of the photographs I've taken of the relevant sites in Wessex/Dorset.  Tess has also "gone over" well in both general education and majors/minors courses, as has The Mayor.
 
I try to incorporate the poetry, which not only is an excellent way to allow for an overall perspective, but also allows students time to read the novels.  Gibson's The Complete Poems is, obviously, the best, and I'm pretty sure is available in paperback here.  Last year I taught TH in a graduate seminar and brought in my CDs of The Mellstock Band playing songs mentioned in the novels, which the students enjoyed and which also allowed for another aspect of TH--his love of music.
 
I'm sure you'll receive lots of suggstions from others on the Forum, so I'll stop here.  What a wonderful course to plan; the main difficulty I've had is I want to include more than there's time during a semester!
 
Cheers,
Jo Mink


From: bcortus at hardy-l.comSubject: Re: [Hardy-l] Fwd: Teaching HardyDate: Sat, 17 May 2008 13:18:58 -0700To: hardy-l at coyote.csusm.edu




Dear All I'm most happy to welcome Beth Sutton-Ramspeck who has just joined us on the Hardy Forum.  So please feel free now to send responses directly to the list.  I feel sure I can trust you to come up with some useful suggestions for her course.
Many Thanks,
Betty






From: Beth Sutton-Ramspeck <bsutton-ramspeck at LIMA.OHIO-STATE.EDU>
Date: May 17, 2008 12:15:37 PM PDT
To: VICTORIA at LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
Subject: Teaching Hardy
Reply-To: VICTORIA 19th-Century British Culture & Society <VICTORIA at LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>

I'm going to be teaching a major author course in Thomas Hardy this fall, and I'd like advice from those who've taught similar courses.  (This is an undergraduate course.)  Also, I want to make sure the small Lima campus library contains all truly essential Hardy materials.  The main library in Columbus is, of course, thoroughly stocked, but ordering texts from there takes a few days.

Many thanks for your advice.

Beth Sutton-Ramspeck
Associate Professor of English
The Ohio State University at Lima
Lima, OH 45804
sutton-ramspeck.1 at osu.edu

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