Waiyee Loh
Assistant Professor of World Literature
Department of English
Kanagawa University, Japan
The British Empire in East Asia: Victorian and Neo-Victorian Perspectives I
(AY 2023/2024, Semester 1)
Download course syllabus here: Advanced Seminar in World Lit I syllabus.pdf
Week 1. Introduction
Britain and China: Empires Entwined
Lecture slides: W1. Introduction (for students).pptx
Week 2. Tea and Opium I
Reading: Le Fanu, "Green Tea"
Lecture slides: W2. Tea opium.pptx
PDF: Green Tea scan.pdf
PDF: Green Tea notes.pdf
Week 3. Tea and Opium II
Reading: Le Fanu, "Green Tea"
Lecture slides: W3. Tea opium.pptx
Week 4. Planting opium in Bengal: Farmers
Reading: extracts from Ghosh, Sea of Poppies
Lecture slides: W4. Planting opium in Bengal farmers.pptx
PDF: Ghosh. Sea of Poppies scan.pdf
Week 5. Shipping opium from Calcutta to Canton: Sailors and Overseers
Reading: extracts from Ghosh, Flood of Fire
Lecture slides: W5. Shipping opium sailors overseers.pptx
Week 6. Shipping opium from Calcutta to Canton: Lascars
Reading: extracts from Ghosh, Flood of Fire
Lecture slides: W6. Shipping opium lascars.pptx
Week 7. Trading opium in Canton: The British
Reading: extracts from Ghosh, Flood of Fire
Lecture slides: W7. Trading opium in Canton Brit.pptx
Week 8. Trading opium in Canton: The Parsis
Reading: extracts from Ghosh, Flood of Fire
Lecture slides: W8. Trading opium in Canton Parsis.pptx
Week 9. The Opium War: British Indian Soldiers
Reading: extracts from Ghosh, Flood of Fire
Lecture slides:
Week 10. The Opium War: The Manchu government
Reading: extracts from Ghosh, Flood of Fire
Lecture slides:
Week 11. The Opium War: Hong Kong Island
Reading: extracts from Ghosh, Flood of Fire
Lecture slides:
Week 12. Opium in the imperial metropolis
Reading: extracts from Dickens, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Reading: images of opium dens in 19th-century London
PDF: Dickens. Mystery of Edwin Drood.pdf
Luke Fildes, "In the Court": Fildes illustration.jpg
Gustave Doré, “Opium Smoking – the Lascar’s Room in ‘Edwin Drood’”, from London: A Pilgrimage (1872) by William Blanchard Jerrold and Gustave Doré: Dore illustration.jpg
Week 13. Research skills workshop
How to conduct research for your assignment
Lecture slides:
Week 14. Conclusion
Lecture slides:
Week 15. Essay due
Assignment instructions: Assignment instructions.pdf