First, a note about scheduling:

This week we did not meet due to unforeseen circumstances, however we will be combining this week’s topic, Great Expectations by Dickens, with Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde next Tuesday. Julie will begin by presenting Great Expectations, and I will follow with Jekyll and Hyde. In order to merge the two for our purposes we will be approaching these British novels through the lens of psychoanalytic criticism with the help of our resident expert, Jerry.

Next, I would like to offer a few resources to help get things started:

Here is a list of both full-text and full-audio versions of Jekyll and Hyde:

http://librivox.org/the-strange-case-of-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-by-robert-louis-stevenson-2/

It is very short, and an excellent example of the Gothic novel. Click here for a thorough list of resources that will help define Gothic literature. I strongly suggest reading (re-reading, or reviewing, as the case may be) Dracula and Frankenstein as comparisons. All of these are good candidates for comps because they lend themselves so easily to the most popular critical approaches: ie, gender/sexuality, cultural, historical, formal/structural, Marxist, and of course psychoanalytic. Perhaps we can read specifically with this purpose in mind : consider which critical approach would produce the most enlightening reading of this text, in other words, which critical lens would you use to analyze Jekyll and Hyde for your Passport essay and why (take notes to share with the group!)?

In 2008 I presented this text in a masters level class, and in preparation for this week’s discussion I dug up the paper and Power Point as references. I will post these materials before our meeting, but I want to offer a few of the sources as suggestions for further reading:

Ferrero, Gina Lombroso, “Criminal Man According to the Classification of Cesare Lombroso,” New York: GP. Putnam’s Sons, 1911. Rpt. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Ed. Martin A. Danahay,  Toronto: Broadview, 2005. 160-166.

Massey, Irving. “The Third Self: ‘Dracula, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ and Merimee’s‘Lokis.’” The Bulletin of the Midwest Modern Language Association. 6.2 (Autumn, 1973): 57-67. JSTOR. January 2008.

Maudsley, Henry. “The Double Brain.” Mind 54 (April 1889):161-87.

Feel free to post questions and comments here.

Until then, enjoy a little Hyde and seek…