Mysteries of London - program full

Mysteries of London - Spring 2010

Visit England over Spring Break 2010.

For information, please contact Ginny Pellam-Montalbano at 443-9417 or gapellam@syr.edu

Applications are available online. New students should apply online under the "To Apply" section of our website. For program please select “SU world partners” and state that you are interested in the Mysteries program in the essay section along with answering the essay questions. Students who have participated on an SU Abroad program may complete a returning SU Abroad applicant application.

Course

ETS 410: Forms and Genres: The Mysteries of London (4 credits)

Nineteenth-century British crime and mystery novels continue to haunt our imagination of London: the city still derives some of its allure and fascination from its associations with gaslights, cobblestone alleyways, foggy nights, detectives, prostitutes, opium dens, and the occasional serial killer. Through a combination of coursework in Syracuse and nine days of on-site study in London over spring break, this course will examine the mysteries and mystery literature of Victorian London and the ways they continue to fascinate contemporary novelists, graphic novelists, filmmakers, and tourists.

We will devote the first half of the term to studying how nineteenth-century British crime novels and journalism helped to create London as a city of mystery. We will examine how these writings responded to the cultural anxieties and interests that attended everything from globalization, population growth, and industrialization; to transformations in class, sexuality, and gender; to changing theories of psychology, physiology, and disease. The course’s focus will then shift to examining what it means that London’s image as a Victorian city of mystery still retains some hold over its modern identity. The two halves of the course will be bridged by a class trip to London in which we will visit a variety of locations associated with Victorian crime, mystery, and crime fiction, including: the Sherlock Holmes museum; the creepy West Cemetery at Highgate (the inspiration for Dracula); the law buildings, prisons, courthouses, execution sites, and back alleys immortalized by Charles Dickens; the smugglers’ steps, warehouses, and old sailors’ pubs that line the Thames River; churches associated with freemasons and the Knights Templar; and the East End neighborhoods terrorized in 1888 by Jack the Ripper. We’ll also be doing some decidedly less grim forms of tourism related to the course, including visiting some of the world’s premiere museums and taking a daytrip into the English countryside. There, we will visit Blenheim Palace, an exceptionally lavish example of an English manor house (the setting for many Victorian sensation novels) and then have some free time amidst the spires and courtyards of nearby Oxford.

Class size is limited to 20 students. Any matriculated undergraduate student is eligible to apply. Students must enroll in both the Syracuse and England portions of the course.

Faculty

Mike Goode Assistant Professor of English, specializes in nineteenth-century British literature and culture. In addition to having taught at the SU London Centre and having regularly run a short-term study-abroad course to Britain on Jane Austen, he has lived, researched, taught, and traveled widely in Britain. His book, Sentimental Masculinity and the Rise of History, 1790-1890, was published by Cambridge University Press earlier this year.

Tentative Itinerary

Friday, March 12 -Depart Syracuse

Saturday, March 13 - Arrive in London; Check-in. Orientation tube ride and a brief professor-led walk through London’s history, including stops at St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Guildhall, the Museum of London, the Globe. Theater, and the Roman wall.Group dinner

Sunday, March 14 - Professor-led walking tour of Legal and Illegal Victorian London, including the Royal Courts, the Inns of Court, Temple Bar, and a pub used by grave-robbbers. Visit to the Dickens House Museum.

Monday, March 15 - Professor-led walking tour of Sherlock Holmes’s London, including Baker Street,The Sherlock Holmes Museum, Parliament, Old Scotland Yard, Trafalgar Square, and Covent Garden. National Portrait Gallery.

Tuesday, March 16 - V&A Museum.Visit to the Linley Sambourne House.High Tea at the Milestone Hotel.Evening theater performance.

Wednesday, March 17 - Professor-led walking tour of “down and out” Victorian London, including the docks, warehouses, sailors pubs, smuggling steps, and gallows along the Thames River. Riverboat ride along the Thames River. Jack the Ripper tour of the East End.

Thursday, March 18 - Train and coach to Blenheim Palace; visit the palace and gardens. Free afternoon in Oxford. Return to London by train.

Friday, March 19 - Tour of the West Cemetery, Highgate Professor-led walking tour of Camden Town canals, stable markets, and Primrose Hill.

Saturday, March 20 - Free Day. Group Dinner

Sunday, March 21 -Return to Syracuse

Costs

Tuition for the course is covered as part of regular spring semester tuition as long as you do not exceed 19 total credits. The cost for the spring break portion of the course is approximately $2900, and includes round trip transportation from Syracuse to England, housing, some group meals, London tube pass, and entrance fees. It also includes all activities and services for which a separate fee is not charged. The final fee will be set once airfare and other expenses have been confirmed.

Application, Selection, & Payment Procedures