Literature of the Long Eighteenth Century,

Transcription

1 Literature of the Long Eighteenth Century, COURSE DESCRIPTION THIS course takes a transatlantic approach to the literature of what is often called the long eighteenth century, in which the court literature of the Restoration, the neoclassicism of the Augustans, and the anti classicism of the Romantics all engage the major cultural changes of the Enlightenment. This course will look broadly at the times and closely at the literary production that reflects, articulates, and influences those times. Readings will include plays, poetry, novels, short fiction, and essays. COURSE GOAL ENG 102 looks broadly at literatures produced in English in the long eighteenth century. The course seeks to understand more than the acknowledged British, European, or American genres within frameworks of global historical changes from the late 17 th to early 19 th centuries. Instead, it presents historical and social movements such as imperialism, scientific empiricism, pre and post war social shifts, and the advent of consumerism and technology: all these affect literature and, in turn, literary production and its vast readership affect these social and political moments. This course will look broadly at the times and closely at the literature production novels, poetry, plays, and visual/cinematic arts that seek to understand and articulate the times. COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES (CLOs) After engaging with this course actively and thoughtfully, students will be able to: 1. Identify the major movements of the period by being able to classify, by characteristic markers of genre and style, any given piece of according to traditional understandings of literary periods and movements. 2. Explain how communication media changed and what impacts these changes had on how literature was produced and disseminated. 3. Develop historical, geographic, and cultural empathy by reading texts written in other times, places, and cultures. 4. Interpret texts with due sensitivity to both textual and contextual cues understanding the way that text is connected to context, especially historical context. 5. Articulate an appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of texts by the standards of their times and places. 6. Develop the skills to put interpretations and analyses in writing, focusing on close reading, comparative analysis, and building and supporting and argument. COURSE MATERIALS Your texts are an essential part of your toolbox for this course. In order to get the most out of this course, please come to class having read the assigned readings carefully and critically, and please bring your assigned readings to class with you. Failure to bring your readings to class not only reflects negatively on you but also diminishes your ability to participate actively and becomes an unfair burden on your classmates who have brought their texts. Chefs don t show up to Top Chef without their knives, lawyers don t show up to the courtroom without their case notes, and doctors don t show up to an examination room without their patient s file. Please don t show up to class without your texts.

2 PLANNED LEARNING OUTCOMES (PLOS) ENGLISH MAJOR: 1. Interpret texts with due sensitivity to both textual and contextual cues. 2. Articulate an appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of texts by the standards of their times and places. 3. Develop historical, geographic, and cultural empathy by reading texts written in other times, places, and cultures. 4. Apply interpretive strategies developed in literary study to other academic and professional contexts. 5. Write cogently and with sensitivity to audience. GENERAL EDUCATION GUIDING PRINCIPLES This course particularly emphasizes the following four General Education Guiding Principles: Communication: analyzing different kinds of writing from across the long eighteenth century as forms of communication; and communicating responses to that writing to the class and faculty member. Aesthetic understanding: appreciating the unique qualities of literature from this period, despite or perhaps because of its difficulty compared to later types of writing. Creativity: both appreciating the creativity of various writers by reading their many and diverse works; and responding creatively to that work through writing and performance. Appreciation of diverse perspectives in both global and community contexts: learning about the historical, cultural, and geographic contexts of the English speaking world from the late 16 th to early 18 th centuries, different as they are from our own, and thinking about how the particular contexts of that time and place shaped the writing of these authors, while also considering how their writing in turn has affected other world authors in myriad ways. Required Texts _The Norton Anthology of Poetry, Fifth Edition (ISBN: ) _Four Great Restoration Comedies, Dover Thrift Edition (ISBN: ) _Aphra Behn, Oroonoko, Norton Critical Edition (ISBN: ) _Eighteenth Century Women Dramatists, Oxford (ISBN: ) _Eliza Haywood, Love in Excess, Broadview (ISBN: ) _Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, Dover Thrift Edition (ISBN: ) _Charles Brockden Brown, Wieland; or the Transformation, Oxford (ISBN: ) _Anonymous, The Woman of Colour, Broadview (ISBN: ) _Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, Oxford (ISBN: ) _James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (ISBN: ) Additional Readings Other required readings are available as PDFs on our CROPS website in the Resources

3 folder. Please print out these readings and bring them to class with you. To conserve resources, use scratch paper, print multiple pages per sheet and/or use double sided printing. In the past, I allowed students to use their laptops in class if they had software that allowed them to annotate their texts. However, it was brought to my attention that students were on facebook and playing video games during class, which negatively affected not only their education but also the education of their classmates. Therefore, I no longer allow electronic devices in the classroom. GRADE BREAKDOWN Paper 1: 15% Paper 2: 20% Midterm: 15% Final Exam: 20% Quizzes/Free Writes: 15% Participation: 15% COURSE REQUIREMENTS Papers Close Reading (3 4 pages) Comparative Analysis (6 8 pages) Examinations Midterm: Friday, March 13 Final exam: Monday, May 11, 3:00 6:00 PM No books or notes allowed. There will be no make up or early exams offered in this course. If you miss an exam and have a legitimate excuse (i.e. doctor s note or equivalent) alternate arrangements might be able to be made but there is no guarantee. Quizzes & Free Writes: Periodically, short quizzes and free writes will be given on the reading assigned for the day. If you are keeping up with the reading, you have no need to be anxious about these quizzes and free writes. Quizzes and free writes cannot be made up. The lowest quiz/free write grade will be dropped. Participation _Participation is key to any course in college because it allows you to guide your educations in the directions you find most interesting. Moreover, it allows you practice in one of the most important skills college can foster for you: talking to other adults about significant things, including probing ideas for more than surface content. Thus, I expect you each not only to have read for class but also to come ready to talk about those readings, with specific questions, comments, and passages to address. _Participation comes in a variety of forms. I do not evaluate participation solely on the quantity of times students speak up in class. Listening attentively, treating each other with respect, posing thoughtful questions, and drawing our attention to specific passages are considered as important as speaking up multiple times during discussions. Visits to office hours and thoughtful responses to posts on our course WordPress site marked Extra Credit also count towards participation.

4 _On the other hand, lack of courtesy (e.g. talking with a neighbor while I, your TA, or one of your classmates is talking, dozing off, or other disrespectful/disruptive behavior) will be weighted negatively. _Additionally, your attendance and preparedness in your weekly discussion sections will be factored into your participation grade. Your TA will take attendance in each discussion section meeting. _In respecting each other s contributions, we will cultivate a classroom environment that fosters communal learning. Accordingly, please turn off and stow all electronic devices such as cell phones, laptops, ipads, ipods, etc. READING SCHEDULE Schedule subject to change. Changes will be announced in class and on CROPS. Please bring assigned readings to class with you. Readings and assignments are to be completed by the day they appear on the syllabus. For plays, I suggest reading them in their entirety over the weekend. NAP = Norton Anthology of Poetry FGRC = Four Great Restoration Comedies 18CWD = Eighteenth Century Women Dramatists The Restoration Week 1 Monday, January 19: MLK Holiday Wednesday, January 21: Course Introduction Friday, January 23: Rochester (NAP ); Aphra Behn (NAP ) QUIZ: Syllabus Homework: Follow our course WordPress blog: Week 2 Monday, January 26: William Wycherley, The Country Wife (FGRC) Wednesday, January 28: The Country Wife (cont.); Aphra Behn, The Rover (FGRC) Friday, January 30: Aphra Behn, The Rover Week 3 Monday, February 2: Aphra Behn, Oroonoko (pp. 5 65); Anne Bradstreet, The Author to Her Book (NAP 465); Margaret Cavendish, An Apology for Writing So Much upon This Book (NAP 499) and Anne Finch, The Introduction (NAP ) Wednesday, February 4: Oroonoko, Historical Backgrounds (pp ) Friday, February 6: Mary Rowlandson, A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson (CROPS) Paper 1 Assigned Week 4 Monday, February 9: Perspectives: Reading Papers (CROPS) Wednesday, February 11: Pope, The Rape of the Lock (NAP ) and Impromptu (NAP 637); Finch, The Answer (NAP 565) Friday, February 13: Swift, The Lady s Dressing Room (NAP ) and Montagu, Epistle to Mrs. Yonge to Her Husband (NAP ) and The Reasons (CROPS); Astell, Some Reflections upon Marriage (CROPS) ENG 102 Spring 2015 Dr. Taryn Hakala Page 7 of 8

5 Week 5 Monday, February 16: Presidents Day Wednesday, February 18: Susanna Centlivre, The Busy Bodie (18CWD) Friday, February 20: The Busy Bodie (cont.) Revision Workshop in section Week 6 Monday, February 23: Eliza Haywood, Love in Excess (Part the First) Wednesday, February 25: Eliza Haywood, Love in Excess (Part the Second) Friday, February 27: Love in Excess (The Third and Last Part); Appendix (pp ) Paper 1 due in section Week 7 Monday, March 2: Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer Wednesday, March 4: She Stoops to Conquer (cont.); Hannah Cowley, The Belle s Stratagem (18CWD) Friday, March 6: The Belle s Stratagem (cont.) Week 8 Monday, March 9: Thomas Gray and William Collins (NAP ) Wednesday, March 11: The Slave Trade and the Literature of Abolition (CROPS); More, The Slave Trade (NAP ); Freneau, To Sir Toby (NAP ); Wheatley, (NAP ) Friday, March 13: MIDTERM Week 9 Monday, March 16: The Revolution Controversy and the Spirit of the Age (CROPS) Paper 2 Assigned Wednesday, March 18: Wordsworth and Coleridge, Preface to Lyrical Ballads (CROPS); Wordsworth (NAP ); Samuel Taylor Coleridge (NAP ) Friday, March 20: The Gothic and the Development of a Mass Readership (CROPS) Week 10: Spring Recess and Cesar Chavez Holiday Week 11 Monday, March 30: Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley (NAP ) Wednesday, April 1: John Keats (NAP ) Friday, April 3: Felicia Hemans (NAP ); Mary Robinson and Letitia Landon (CROPS) Paper 2 Proposal due in section ENG 102 Spring 2015 Dr. Taryn Hakala Page 8 of 8

6 Week 12 Monday, April 6: George Colman, Blue beard; or, Female Curiosity! (CROPS) Wednesday, April 8: Blue beard (cont.) Friday, April 10: Sarah Wilkinson, Albert of Werdendorff; or, the Midnight Embrace (CROPS) Week 13 Monday, April 13: Charles Brockden Brown, Wieland; or the Transformation (ch. I X) Wednesday, April 15: Wieland; or the Transformation (ch. XI XX) Friday, April 17: Wieland; or the Transformation (ch. XX XXVI) Revision Workshop in section Week 14 Monday, April 20: Anonymous, The Woman of Colour (Vol. I) Wednesday, April 22: The Woman of Colour (Vol. II) Friday, April 24: TBD Paper 2 due in section Week 15 Monday, April 27: Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (Vol. I) Wednesday, April 29: Mansfield Park (Vol. II) Friday, May 1: Mansfield Park (Vol. III) Week 16 Monday, May 4: James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (pp. 5 71) Wednesday, May 6: Justified Sinner (pp ) Friday, May 8: Justified Sinner (pp ) Final Exam: Monday, May 11, 3:00 6:00pm