Professor Celia A. Easton Spring 2002, SUNY Geneseo
Email: easton@geneseo.edu
Web
page: http://www.geneseo.edu/~easton
Office: Welles 228b 245-5270
Office hours Spring 2002:
MW 10:30-11:30; F 1:30-2:30, and by appointment.
Geneseo online writing guide: http://writingguide.geneseo.edu
I expect you to read and follow the advice of this writing guide, as well as the information on my guide, “Conventions of Writing Papers about Literature,” linked at the “courses” section of my web page.
This course addresses British literature of the “long eighteenth century,” that is, from the time following the English Civil Wars and the Interregnum. We begin with the Restoration of the Monarchy and go up to the pre-Romantic eighteenth century. This literature is rich in political and social thought, satire, philosophy, and sentiment, as well as rebelliousness, comedy, and mockery. This is modern literature, written in modern English, but you may find some of it somewhat challenging in tone, style, and language. Sometimes you will have to struggle with this literature; sometimes you will simply sit back and enjoy it.
Required texts:
Main Anthology:
Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Literature (This is a “split edition” of the 7th edition of the first volume of the Norton Anthology of English Literature. If you own that edition, you may simply use this section of your text).
Additional Books:
Burney, Frances.
Evelina (Norton Critical Edition, 1998)
Defoe,
Daniel. Robinson Crusoe (Penguin)
McMillin, Scott, ed. Restoration
and Eighteenth-Century Comedy (Norton Critical Edition, 1997)
Syllabus You should read the assignment for each day before coming to class.
|
week |
Monday |
Wednesday |
Friday |
|
1 |
1/28 introduction |
1/30 Restoration of the Monarchy Dryden, "Absalom and Achitophel" (2077-2099) See OUTLINE on my “courses” web page. |
2/1 Complete discussion of "Absalom and Achitophel" |
|
2 |
2/4 "Mac Flecknoe" (2100-2105)and "Alexander's Feast" (2109-2113) |
2/6 Pepys, Diary selections (2122-2131); Wilmot (Rochester), two poems (2162-2165). |
2/8 The Slave Trade Behn, Oroonoko (2170-2215) |
|
3 |
2/11 Complete discussion of Oroonoko; Equiano, "Narrative of the Life…" (2812-2821) |
2/13 Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, pp. 27-81 (about 1/5 of the novel) Take a look at Alexander Selkirk's story in the appendix, pp. 301-310. |
2/15 Crusoe, 82-136. |
|
4 |
2/18 Crusoe,137-191 |
2/20 Crusoe,192-246 |
2/22 Crusoe 247-299 |
|
5 |
2/25 Cowper, "The Negro's Complaint" (available at my “courses” web page); Sancho & Sterne, Letters (2807-2810); Johnson, "A Brief to Free a Slave" (2811-2812) |
2/27 Social Satire Swift, "Abolishing of Christianity" and "A Modest Proposal" |
3/1 Swift, Gulliver, Book 4 (Even if you've read this before, read it again) |
|
6 E |
3/4 Pope, "The Rape of the Lock" See OUTLINE on my “courses” web page. |
3/6 "Debating Women" (Swift, Montagu, Pope, Finch, Ingram, Leapor, 2584-2605) |
3/8 MIDTERM EXAMINATION |
|
7 P |
3/11 1st paper due (no new reading) lecture/discussion on Restoration Comedy's Social Criticism |
3/13 Man of Mode (McMillin, 87-167) |
3/15 Read Hawkins' essay on Man of Mode (McMillin, 592-597) TYPE AND TURN IN* a one-page, double spaced summary and response to this essay or to Diamond's. |
|
8 |
3/18 Behn, The Rover (169-247). |
3/20 Read Diamond's essay on The Rover (597-611 TYPE AND TURN IN* a one-page, double spaced summary and response to this essay or to Hawkins' |
3/22 Congreve, Way of the World (in either McMillin or Norton anth.) |
|
9 |
3/25 spring break |
3/27 spring break |
3/29spring break |
|
10 |
4/1 (continue) Congreve, Way of the World (in either McMillin or Norton anth.) |
4/3 Theatrical Reflections (no new reading) |
4/5 Philosophical Reflection Pope, "Eloisa to Abelard" |
|
11 |
4/8 Pope, "An Essay on Criticism" (2509-2525) |
4/10 Pope, "An Essay on Man, Epistle 1" (2555-2561) |
4/12 Johnson, selections from the History of Rasselas (2678-2712) |
|
12 |
4/15 Sentiment and Prose Fiction Burney, Evelina, 8-85 |
4/17 Read Burney's journals/letters selected in the anthology (2784-2805) |
4/19 Burney, Evelina, 85-142 |
|
13 |
4/22 Burney, Evelina, 142-210 |
4/24 Burney, Evelina, 211-260 |
4/26 Burney, Evelina, 260-337 |
|
14 |
4/29 Read Kristina Straub's essay, "Evelina: Marriage as a Dangerous Die" (411-430) TYPE AND TURN IN* a one-page, double spaced summary and response to this essay or to Gina Campbell's. |
5/1 Read Gina Campbell's "How to Read like a Gentleman" (431-453) TYPE AND TURN IN* a one-page, double spaced summary and response to this essay or to Kristina Straub's. |
5/3 Nature, Nostalgia, and Emotion Gray, "Eton College," "Favorite Cat," "Country Churchyard"(2826-2833) |
|
15 P |
5/6 Boswell Video (no new reading) 2nd Paper Due |
5/8 Goldsmith, "Deserted Village" |
5/10 Cowper, selections from "The Task" and "The Castaway" COURSE EVALUATIONS |
|
F |
Friday May 17 from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. I do not reschedule final exams except for documented emergencies. Check your schedules now and let me know during the FIRST WEEK OF CLASSES if you think you have a scheduling conflict. I will be far less sympathetic the closer we get to exam week. The final exam is cumulative. It includes both identifications of passages and essays on literature from the entire course. |
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*We read four essays of literary criticism from the Norton Critical editions. You must write summary-responses (explain the argument, then briefly analyze it) for two out of the four, one on Restoration Comedy, and one on Evelina. You may choose the essay you want to write a response for, but you must turn it in during class on the day we discuss the reading to avoid a late penalty. I will grade these responses on accuracy, clarity, and thoughtfulness. |
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Evaluation:
|
participation |
5% |
|
response summaries (two) |
5% |
|
midterm |
15% |
|
1st paper |
20% |
|
2nd paper |
25% |
|
final |
30% |
Keep copies (disk or hard copy) of all assignments you do for this class so that you can replace a paper if it is misplaced. You must attempt all assignments for this course to pass this course, even if your GPA is "passing" without one assignment.
1. How does Dryden demonstrate his support for the monarchy in Absalom and Achitophel?
2. How can Oroonoko and Robinson Crusoe be read as pro- or anti-slavery novels? (You may make separate cases for each book, but integrate your discussions so that you are not writing two mini papers).
3. Compare and contrast the satirical strategies of Gulliver, book 4 and The Rape of the Lock.
4. How do Dryden and Pope reinforce their satirical messages through the literary devices (e.g., rhyme, meter, alliteration, metaphor, zeugma, etc.) of their poems?
5. Why is it significant that Oroonoko is narrated by a woman?
6. Why is it significant that Defoe includes so few women in Robinson Crusoe?
7. Explain the social policies implicitly advocated by Swift’s Abolishing Christianity and Modest Proposal. Remember, in a satire, you need to infer the author’s implied message through a reading of his explicit narrative.
Paper #2 This paper should be 7-8 pp. long. Each of these topics requires you to do additional research. Begin early in case you need to order materials through Inter-Library Loan. You may cite any of the essays in the Norton Critical Edition, but you must include at least one other researched source in your essay.
Information on source material: The source material you cite must come from scholarly journals and books, not unjuried websites. Some scholarly journals can be found online, but if you use them you should include a full citation (title, volume, year, page #s if available), just as you would for a print journal in addition to the URL citation. Most research materials are available only in hard copy, so do not limit your searches to “full text only.”
Use the MLA bibliography to research literary scholarship. I give information about this at my web site at the “literary links” page. Use the MLA style guide to provide citations and bibliographies in conventional format. MLA style is explained in all writing handbooks. You can also find a link to MLA style on the Geneseo Online Writing Guide, http://writingguide.geneseo.edu/.
Most important writing strategy: Do not let your research overwhelm you essay. This is your argument, not a report on someone else’s ideas. You should cite research either if you disagree with it (explaining why), if it supports your position (explaining why) or if it addresses another point but can be applied to your argument (explaining why).
Most common writing error: The most common writing error I encounter in researched essays is the “dropped quotation.” A “dropped quotation” is a quotation either from the text you are analyzing or the secondary source you are citing that is “plopped” into your essay without any introduction. Every quotation needs some kind of tag line—something like this:
Gina Campbell asserts that Burney drives the plot of Evelina through the male characters’ unconscious misreading of women, that they in fact “[make] women into texts” (444).
In this quotation, “make” is bracketed because the word is “makes” in the original quotation and I need to maintain the grammar of my sentence while indicating what is actually quoted. The only citation I need is the page number because I’ve already indicated the author in my sentence, and my reader can find out other information about Campbell’s essay from my “Works Cited” page. See my Conventions of Writing Literary Essays on the Courses page of my web site for more information.
Choose one of these topics:
1. Discuss the way women are portrayed in Restoration comedy. Examine the three plays by Etheredge, Behn, and Congreve that we are reading in this course. Cite at least three essays of literary criticism on this topic. The essays you read do not have to address each of these authors, but your analysis does.
2. What is Pope’s point in “Eloisa to Abelard”? For this essay you might look at (English translations of) some of the actual letters the two exchanged. What interpretation of their correspondence does Pope’s poem make? Cite at least three scholarly sources.
3. If you have read (or are willing to read) Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, write an essay that compares and contrasts Burney’s naïve young heroine in Evelina with Catherine Morland. Cite at least three scholarly sources.
4. Discuss the ways in which Burney’s Evelina both draws upon and critiques gender stereotyping. Cite at least three scholarly sources.
5. Discuss Burney’s portrayal of class in Evelina. Cite at least three scholarly sources.
6. Do additional reading in Frances Burney’s journals and discuss the literary techniques that show up in both her fiction and non-fiction writing. Cite at least three scholarly sources.
7. Discuss the narrator’s naiveté in Goldsmith’s “Deserted Village.” Cite at least three scholarly sources.
8. Other topics must be approved in advance.
Late paper policy: Paper grade is reduced by 3 points for every 24 hours it is late. I will listen to petitions for extensions under severe circumstances. I will not look favorably upon your missing class presentations (either as a presenter or a listener).
Numerical grade equivalents:
A: 94-100 A-: 91-93
B+:87-90 B:84-86 B-: 81-83
C+: 77-80 C: 74-76 C-: 71-73
D+: 67-70 D: 64-66 D-61-63
E: 60 and below