ENGLISH 313 Eighteenth-Century British Literature

Spring 2012 Syllabus

Mon/Wed/Fri 10:30-11:20 a.m. in Newton 212

Gillian Paku,

Office: Welles 218c, tel. 245 5272

Office hours: M/W/F 12:30-1:20 and 2:30-4:00p.m. Other times are available by arrangement. Please make an appointment even within my regularly scheduled hours to avoid double-booking.

Course Description:

A survey of an exuberant period in English literary and social history from John Dryden to Jane Austen, in which the alternating rhythms of containment, pressure, and explosion give us racy Restoration drama and the pointed comedy of manners, hilarious and sometimes savage satire, and the emergent realist novel alongside effusions of melodrama, mystery, and sentimentality. We trace also the rise of the periodical newspaper, the biography, and the life of the artist. We examine how these literary forms shape and reflect an idea of government, nationhood and empire, we follow travels around the world, around town, and around the self, and we pay attention to literature by women, literature about women, and literature by women about women who read literature.

SUNY Geneseo will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented physical, emotional, or learning disabilities. Students should notify the Director in the Office of Disability Services (Tabitha Buggie-Hunt, 105D Erwin, ) and their individual faculty of any needed accommodations as early as possible in the semester.

You should familiarize yourself with the resources available to you at The Writing Center.

Learning Outcomes:

~ students will demonstrate the ability to read literary texts closely

~ students will demonstrate the ability to write logical analysis of literary texts in an appropriately academic register

~ students will demonstrate literary research skills

~ students will understand the nature and limitations of contextualizing texts historically

~ students will understand the interplay of genres and literary movements across a significant period of time

~ students will demonstrate the ability to work as a team to produce oral presentations

Required Texts:

~ The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume C: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century ed. Stephen Greenblatt, M. H. Abrams, Lawrence Lipking, and James Noggle (page numbers follow 8th edition; 7th edition is fine)

~ Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon (Oxford World's Classics) ed. James Kinsley, John Davie, and Claudia L. Johnson

~ John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (Fanny Hill) (Oxford World’s Classics) ed. Peter Sabor

~ Daniel Defoe, Roxana (Oxford World's Classics) ed. John Mullan

~ George Etherege, The Man of Mode (New Mermaids) ed. John Barnard

~ Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield (Oxford World's Classics) ed. Arthur Friedman and Robert L. Mack

Schedule of Classes:

Wed 01/18 Introduction, syllabus – schedule of presentations. Handout from Alexander Pope’s Dunciad

Fri 01/20 Historical outline. John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester: “The Imperfect Enjoyment” (Norton 2169-2171); Aphra Behn “The Disappointment” (Norton)

Mon 01/23 Rochester: “To the Post Boy,” “An Allusion to Horace,” “A Song: Absent from Thee I Languish Still” (myCourses). Schedule of presentations.

Wed 01/25 John Dryden: Mac Flecknoe (Norton 2111-2117)

Fri 01/27 Dryden: Mac Flecknoe [P1: Hubbub]

Mon 01/30 George Etherege: Man of Mode

Wed 02/01 Etherege: Man of Mode [P2: clothing (or with Fantomina)]

Fri 02/03 In-class essay exercise: Dryden’s Song from Marriage à la Mode

Mon 02/06 Discuss essays [P3: cuisine (cheese)]

Wed 02/08 Eliza Haywood, Fantomina (myCourses)

Fri 02/10 Haywood, Fantomina

Mon 02/13 Jonathan Swift: A Modest Proposal (Norton 2462-2468)

First paper due, 5pp, 15%

Wed 02/15 Swift: Stella, Description of the Morning and City Shower, Cassinus and Peter (Norton 2303 and myCourses)

Fri 02/17 Swift: Gulliver’s Travels, Voyage 2 (Brobdingnag) (Norton 2365-2405)

Mon 02/20 Alexander Pope: “Impromptu to Lady Winchelsea” and “The Answer;” “Epistle 2. To A Lady,” and “An Epistle to Mr. Pope” (Norton 2595-2607), “Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot” (Norton 2548-2559); excerpts from Essay on Man (Norton).

Wed 02/22 Pope: Rape of the Lock (Norton 2513-2532)

Fri 02/24 Pope: Rape of the Lock

Mon 02/27 Intro to the novel

Wed 02/29 Daniel Defoe: Roxana

Fri 03/02 Sigma Tau Delta conference: no class

Mon 03/05 Defoe: Roxana

Wed 03/07 Defoe: Roxana

Fri 03/09 Individual conferences to discuss second essay

Mon 03/12 Wed 03/14; Fri 03/16 No class: Spring Break

Mon 03/19 No class: Graff and Birkenstein visit

Second paper due, 5pp, 15%

Wed 03/21 Samuel Richardson: Pamela and the making of the modern woman (excerpts on myCourses)

Fri 03/23 Richardson: Pamela: writing to the moment

Mon 03/26 Henry Fielding: Shamela (myCourses) [P4: quills and ink] [P5: calendar reform]

Wed 03/28 John Cleland: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (Fanny Hill) [P6: artistic depictions of reading novels]

Fri 03/30 Cleland, Fanny Hill (I’ll return second essay)

Mon 04/02 Samuel Johnson: The Dictionary (myCourses)

Wed 04/04 Samuel Johnson: Rambler essays (myCourses)

Fri 04/06 No class: individual meetings to discuss research revision

Mon 04/09 Johnson: Rambler No. 60 [Biography] (Norton 2746-2749) and Lives of the Poets: Pope (Norton 2774-2778).

Wed 04/11 Biography: James Boswell: Life of Johnson (Norton excerpts 2781-2810).

Fri 04/13 Thomas Gray: “Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat” (Norton 2865-2870); Christopher Smart: “My Cat Jeoffry” from Jubilate Agno (Norton 2875-2877) [P7: animal hoaxes, antiquarianism, the defecating duck]

Second paper revision due, 8-10 pp, 25%

Mon 04/16 Thomas Gray: “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard;” Sensibility readings (myCourses)

Wed 04/18 Sensibility and social reform: Oliver Goldsmith: The Vicar of Wakefield [P8: breastfeeding practices]

Fri 04/20 Goldsmith: The Vicar of Wakefield

Mon 04/23 Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey [P9: the Gothic novel]

Wed 04/25 Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey [P10: fashion]

Fri 04/27 Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey [P11: Jane Austen re-writings, adaptations]

Mon 04/30 Eighteenth-Century British views of America: Samuel Johnson [P12: views on native Americans]

Final examination, 20%

Tuesday, May 11, 2010, from 8:00-11:00 a.m. in Newton 212

Assessment:

Close reading essay #1 (Rochester, Dryden, Etherege, Haywood): 12.5%

Close reading essay #2 (Swift, Pope, Defoe): 12.5%

Revision into a research essay: 25%

10-minute oral presentation: 15%

Class participation: 15%

Final examination 20%

All graded work must be submitted in hard copy. It is your responsibility to keep a back-up copy. Essays must be typed, double-spaced, in a 12-point font. Single-sided or double-sided is fine. Number the pages and staple them together. No cover pages, please. The page limits are firm, since part of the assignment is conveying an argument of appropriate scope.

You must provide documentation if you require an extension on any paper, and you must keep in contact with me about your progress. Late assignments without documentation will drop a grade for each day they are late, e.g. a B grade will drop to a B-. My grading policies and expectations will be outlined. Any questions or clarifications are welcome.

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