PS Charles Lamb, EssayistWS 2002/03

TU Chemnitz

Anglistische Literaturwissenschaft

Dr. Marie-Luise Egbert

Date / Topics/Activities / Essay / Team
29 Oct / Preliminaries / "Popular Fallacies: That We Should Lie Down with the Lamb" / -
5 Nov / A Brief Biography of Charles Lamb;
The Essay as Genre and Mode (Freiburg 2001) / "Mackery End, in Hertfordshire";
/ A
12 Nov / Analysis/Discussion / "The South-Sea House";
"Popular Fallacies: That Handsome is That Handsome Does" / A
19 Nov / A Short History of the Essay
in English / "Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago" / B
26 Dec / Analysis/Discussion / "A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig";
"Popular Fallacies: That We Must Not Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth" / B
3 Dec / 19th-Century Britain:
Society, Politics, Culture / "Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading" / C
10 Dec / Analysis/Discussion / "Oxford in the Vacation"; "Popular Fallacies: That Home Is Home Though It Is Never So Homely" / C
17 Dec / Elia and Other Fictional Personae
in Literature / "Preface to the Last Essays of Elia" / D
7 Jan / Analysis/Discussion / "The Old Benchers of the Inner Temple"; "Popular Fallacies: That Ill-Gotten Gain Never Prospers" / D
14 Jan / Serialized Literature: Journals and Periodicals in 19th-Century Britain / "Newspapers Thirty-Five Years Ago" / E
21 Jan / Analysis/Discussion / "The Genteel Style in Writing"; "Popular Fallacies: That the Poor Copy the Vices of the Rich" / E
28 Jan / Lamb's Contemporaries:
William Hazlitt; Leigh Hunt / "My First Play" / F
4 Feb / Analysis/Discussion / "A Chapter on Ears";"Valentine's Day" / F

Term Papers

Select two of Lamb's essays not discussed in class and prepare a formal and thematic analysis of each. Choose the essays with a view to parallels or contrasts between them to which you can draw attention in your paper (by way of comparison).

Suggested Structure:

1. Introduction

2. Essay I

2.1 Brief summary (not exceeding half a page)

2.2 Analysis of theme

2.3 Analysis of structure and formal features

3. Essay II

3.1 Brief summary (not exceeding half a page)

3.2 Analysis of theme

3.3 Analysis of structure and formal features

4. Comparison of Essay I with Essay II

5. Conclusion

6. Works Cited

N.B.

  • You can also compare an essay by Lamb with one by Leigh Hunt or William Hazlitt (preferably on a similar topic).
  • Do not provide a separate chapter on Lamb's life! Details of his life may be included where appropriate, though.
  • Make use of the MLA bibliography to research literature.
  • If the books and articles you have researched are not available in the university library, order them through the interlibrary loan system as soon as possible or use other libraries (e.g. Leipzig, Dresden).
  • Take care to observe the guidelines provided in the stylesheet of the Wegweiser (chapter 7). Please note that these conventions also apply if you use internet sources (see chapter 5 of the stylesheet). Term papers which do not follow those guidelines willnot be accepted.

Deadlines

For students taking the intermediary exam in February/March 2003: 10 December 2002.

For other students: 3 March 2003.

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