LIT6133   Foundlings, Fostering and Adoption in literature, 1739-1900   (30 credits)

Description

Why does literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries portray so consistently orphans, foundlings and foster parents? This module will begin by looking at the establishment of the Foundling Hospital in London in 1739 by Thomas Coram, and will then proceed to analyse a rich vein of literature around the idea of the foundling. Indicative works to be studied include The Fortunate Foundlings by Eliza Haywood (1749); Tom Jones: the history of a Foundling by Henry Fielding (1749), the fragment `The Foster Mother's Tale' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1797), The Italian by Ann Radcliffe (1797), Emma by Jane Austen (1815), Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (1837-9), Shirley by Charlotte Bronte (1849) and The Jungle book by Rudyard Kipling (1894). This module will also offer the opportunity for a class trip to Thomas Coram's Foundling Hospital (now The Foundling Museum) in London.

Reading List