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Literature 315: Enlightenment
and Its Discontents
Studies in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century British Literature, 1660-1800
Winter 2008 Dr. Abby
Coykendall acoykenda at
emich.edu Office:
Pray-Harrold Hall 603G Office
Phone: 734-487-0147 (messages only) Office
Hours: MW 12:15-12:45; M 3:15-6:45; W 3:15-3:45 ~ or email for an appointment ~
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Literature 315: Studies in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century British Literature
LITR 315,
formerly known as “Literature of the Neoclassical Period,” is a class in which you
will investigate a wide variety of British literature from the period that
spans the late seventeenth and late eighteenth centuries. This period is
generally referred to as the “long” eighteenth century to accommodate the
revolutions that precede and conclude the eighteenth century proper, both of
which influence the direction of British culture profoundly. Namely, the Restoration (of the British
monarchy) following the Civil War, as well as, of course, the French
Revolution, the period’s spectacular fin
de sičcle denouement. Perhaps more than any other era, the eighteenth
century represents a moment that we must evaluate and reevaluate to interrogate
the values of our own time. While often
considered a quaint, tea-and-crumpets blueprint for civil societies across the
globe, the British enlightenment witnesses both the positives and the negatives
of modernity in the extreme. Thus, in
midst of a massive expansion of the slave trade, the birth of the market economy
and finance capitalism, as well as an increasingly rigid sex-gender system
(later culminating in “Angle of the House” Victorian domesticity), we will find
a celebration of art and culture that students of literature still cannot help
but admire. We will test both the
apocalyptic and utopian visions of the British enlightenment through a diverse
array of texts that put issues of modernity at the fore. Ultimately, we will expand rather than
confine our engagement with the material, not only putting literary works in
dialogue with the historical and philosophical texts of the time, but also
examining how they shape the myriad claims to (and contestations against)
modernity that continue to vex our own.
Course Objectives:
By the end of the semester, students will be better able to
1) Comprehend, appreciate, and critically
examine restoration and eighteenth-century literature;
2) Recognize the most significant changes from
the beginning to the end of the period, while also perceiving the ways in which
the period differs from those before and after it;
3) Make connections between the
literature of the period and its historical context by tracing the ways in
which literature influences the larger culture and that culture influences the
literature in turn;
4) Partake in current approaches to
the field by becoming acquainted with a select yet representative sample of
literary theorists;
5)
Enhance the study of the period by placing its literature and culture in
a lasting dialogue with our own.
Course Itinerary:
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Section One: The Public Sphere: Cultural Imperialism and the Global Eighteenth Century |
Main Assignment: Essay Exam One Research Report |
Case Study (“Lady’s
Dressing Room” & “Reasons”); Behn, Oroonoko, Swift “Modest
Proposal,” & Thomson, “Rule Britannia”; Selections from Idler, Spectator, Robinson Crusoe, & Interesting Narrative Theorist: Edward Said (“Imagined Geography”) |
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Section Two: The Private Sphere: Sexuality, Gender, and the Rise of the Middle Class |
Main Assignment: Essay Exam Two Research Essay |
Restoration Poetry; Haywood, Fantomina; Hogarth, Marriage A-la-Mode; Pope, “Rape of the Lock”; Gray, “Ode on the Death”; Goldsmith, “Deserted Village”; Selections from Montagu, Turkish Embassy Letters Theorist: Ruth Perry (“Colonizing the Breast”) |
Required Texts:
The following book is available at Ned’s
(http://www.nedsbooks.com/emu/; 483-6400; 707 W. Cross), as well as on
2-hour reserve at the
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Broadview
Anthology of British Literature: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century
Volume 3, Ed. Joseph Black (Broadview 2006; ISBN # 1551116111)
Some materials will be located online in
the Electronic Reserves (ER): http://reserves.emich.edu/eres/coursepage.aspx?cid=1321
(password 315). You can print these materials for free in any
of the computer labs on campus.
** Make sure to bring a copy of each text that we will be
discussing to class, whether it be the textbook or a handout from the
Electronic Reserves. You will need to have them on hand for groupwork and
class discussions.
Assignments:
Nothing is more vital for success in
this course than keeping up with, and actively engaging in, the reading
assignments, response papers, and class discussions. The more actively you participate, the more
the course content will reflect your unique needs and interests. As with any university course, you can expect
the homework to take around two hours for every unit of class or, in other
words, six hours each week.
See the Assignments, Exams, and
Extra-Credit Opportunities handout for specific information, including ways
to augment your grade through extra credit if you fall behind.
Assessment:
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20% |
Participation:
Responses, Homework, Groupwork, & Quizzes |
due
dates: |
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25% |
Exam
Section 1: The Public Sphere |
March 10
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25% |
5-Page
Research Essay Stemming from Collaborative Project |
April 11 (5:00 PM) |
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30% |
Exam
Section 2: The Private Sphere |
April 23 (1:30-3:00)
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Attendance
Because this course primarily consists of
reading and discussion—rather than facts, figures, or memorization—attendance
is crucial. After five absences, your final
grade will start being reduced by one third.
That is, the sixth class missed will turn a final grade of an A into an
A-; the seventh, into a B+; and so on.
If you have more than eight absences, you will no longer
be able to pass the class.
There is no need to explain or excuse
absences, for I will always assume that you have an excellent reason to miss
class. However, make sure to save some of the
five allowable absences for the end of the term when you might become ill or
have other extenuating circumstances.
Lateness and Classroom Etiquette
Do not distract your peers by coming in
late, exiting the room, answering your cell phone, whispering to your
neighbors, or packing your items up before the class is actually over. Once class starts, turn off your cell phone,
and then walk in or out of the room only if there is a genuine emergency. Leaving halfway through a class period or
arriving halfway into one each count as half an absence,
and it is your responsibility to ensure that you have not been marked absent
because you were late.
Refrain from talking with other students
during class time: simply raise your hand and bring the concerns that you have
to the attention of the entire class (the other students will likely have the
same questions anyway). Most
importantly, make sure to listen to your fellow students with the same respect
and attention that you want to receive when you yourself are speaking.
Academic Integrity
Plagiarism is an extremely serious
offense against the Code
of Student Conduct. Any plagiarized writing or cheating on the
exams will automatically result in a failing, zero-percent grade for the
assignment, as well as in further disciplinary action if egregious. The general rule is that if you use three or
more words of another writer in a row without enclosing those words in
quotation marks and acknowledging your source, you are guilty of
plagiarism. See http://www.emich.edu/halle/plagiarism.html for more specific guidelines.
Schedule
Section One: The Public Sphere (Cultural Imperialism and the Global Eighteenth Century)
Monday,
January 7: Overview of Course; Introductions; Conjectural Response/Homework: 1) Read syllabus (preferably online) and the Assignments, Exams, & Extra-Credit
Opportunities handout, jotting down any questions that you have;
2) Begin “Introduction,” Broadview Anthology (BA), p. xxix-xxxvi (also on reserve at the Halle library);
3) Read (and re-read) “Lady’s Dressing Room,” including background on Jonathan Swift [BA 302-4, 307].
Wednesday,
January 9: Discuss Handout, Swift, & Introduction/Homework: 1) After surveying the Descriptions of Texts, email the list of three preferred texts
to acoykenda at
emich.edu (or bring it to class); 2) Continue “Introduction” [BA
xxxvi-xl; xlv-xlix]; 3) Read Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, “Reasons that
Induced” [BA 488]; 4) Be prepared to discuss the Montagu and Swift
poems, along with at least one passage from the “Introduction” that you find
applicable to them, in class.
Monday,
January 14: Discuss Montagu, Swift, & Introduction/Homework: 1) Read the Collaborative
Groupwork Project handout; 2) Email your list of preferred texts to acoykenda at emich.edu as soon as possible if you
missed class last time.
Wednesday,
January 16: Overview of Research Project/Homework: 1) See List of Group Assignments to
confirm your group number; 2) Read all of the materials assigned to your
group (the Descriptions of
Texts handout specifies where to locate these materials, as well as
what to read in conjunction with them).
Monday,
January 21: NO CLASS (Martin Luther
King, Jr. Day)
Wednesday,
January 23: Groupwork Step One/Homework: 1)
Read Edward Said, “Imaginative Geography,” including the discussion questions,
in the Electronic Reserves (ER),
password 315; 2) Do your research task and begin Research Report
(due Feb. 8); 3) Write down the bibliographic information of the
source that you will use for your research task to turn in on Monday.
Monday,
January 28: Watch & discuss Edward Said on Orientalism/Homework: 1)
Re-read Said “Imaginative Geography” [ER];
2) Read “Royal Exchange” and
“Pleasures of the Imagination” (Spectator
#69 & #414), including background on Joseph Addison [BA 427-28,
711-12, 432-33]; 3) Write a response on Addison incorporating and
discussing a quote from Said.
Wednesday,
January 30: Discuss Responses; MLA Demo/Homework: 1) Read “Slavery and the Slave Trade in Britain” [ER];
2) Begin Oroonoko, including the background on Aphra Behn [BA 139-40; 144-63]; 3) Find at least one article or book chapter of
literary criticism from the MLA
Bibliography on your groupwork text and/or author, and then email the peers in
your group to ensure that your source is distinct from theirs (see the List of Group Assignments for a link); 4) Write down the bibliographic information for your literary critical source
to turn in on Monday.
Monday,
February 4: Discuss Transatlantic Slave Trade; Discuss Behn/Homework: 1) Finish Aphra
Behn, Oroonoko [BA 164-78]; 2) Continue
“Introduction” [BA xl-xliv]; 3) Be prepared to discuss one quote
from the “Introduction” in relation to one passage from Oroonoko in class; 4) Continue Research
Report (due Feb. 8).
Wednesday,
February 6: Discuss Behn/Homework: 1) Finish the 3-page Research Report (see Collaborative
Groupwork Project handout); Remember that it must be double-spaced, in
12-point, Times New Roman font, with only 1-inch margins.
Friday,
February 8 (5:00 PM): Research Report Due (in English Department Mailbox, PH
612)
Monday,
February 11: Groupwork
Step Two/Homework: 1) Read Jonathan Swift, “Modest
Proposal,” including the context, and then read Samuel Johnson, “On Native Americans,” and James
Thomson, “Rule Britannia” [BA
417-26, 581-82, 557]; 2)
Group One must email discussion questions to acoykenda at emich.edu by 4 PM on Feb. 12th;
Group Two by Feb. 17th; Group Three by Feb. 19th; 3) All
remaining groups should consult the List of Group Assignments,
highlighting when the discussion questions are due on the schedule.
Wednesday,
February 13: Discuss Swift, Johnson, & Thomson/Homework: 1) Read background on Daniel Defoe [BA 242-43]; 2) Consult
the discussion questions and “Robinson
Crusoe Summary” [ER];
3) Read selections from Robinson Crusoe [ER],
including “Illustrating Robinson Crusoe” [BA 271-73]; 4)
Optional: Read selections from Crusoe in the anthology [BA 249-70].
Monday,
February 18: Group One Presents Defoe/Homework: 1) Consult discussion questions for Richard Steele and then
read (and re-read) Steele, Spectator #11, “Inkle and Yarico” [ER]; 2) View America Awakens and
the Exotic Tourism Ad by way of comparison [ER].
Wednesday,
February 20: Group Two Presents Steele/Homework: 1) Consult discussion questions for Equiano [ER];
2) Read selections from Interesting Narrative, including background on Olaudah Equiano [BA 742-52]; 3)
Write a response comparing and contrasting Behn’s Oroonoko with the work of another Section One author depending on
your group number: Group 1 (Steele), Groups 2 and 3 (Defoe), Group 4 (Swift,
“Modest”), Group 5 (Johnson), Group 6 (Thomson), Groups 7 and 8 (Equiano); 4)
Optional, but recommended: Nell Boyce, “Out of Africa?” [ER].
February
25-February 27: NO CLASS (Winter Recess)
Monday, March
3: Group Three Presents Equiano/Homework: 1) Read Handout on Exam One; 2) Review
materials from section and then compose essay question and outline for Exam
One; 3) Optional Reading, “Taking Essay Exams” [ER].
Wednesday,
March 5: Quiz on Section One; Workshop Outlines/Homework: 1) Prepare for Exam One; 2) Optional: Meet with me
during my extra office hours to confer about your essay outline (Thursday,
March 6, 2:00-3:30 PM).
Monday, March
10: Exam One (The Public Sphere)/Homework: 1) Consult discussion questions for Restoration Poetry [ER];
2) Read (and re-read) “The Disabled Debauchee” and “Imperfect Enjoyment,”
including background John Wilmot [BA 231-32, 236-37, 240-41]; 3) Read
(and re-read) Aphra Behn, “The Disappointment” [BA 140-42]; 4) Optional,
but highly recommended: “Reading Poetry” [BA 863-82].
Section Two: The Private Sphere
(Sexuality, Gender, and the Rise of the Middle Class)
Wednesday,
March 12: Group Four Presents Restoration Poetry/Homework: 1) Read “Restoration and Eighteenth Century,” Part III [ER
911-918]; 2) Consult
discussion questions for Haywood [ER];
3) Read Fantomina, including background on Eliza Haywood [BA 513-32]; 4) Optional: Watch The
Libertine (2004), perhaps writing an extra-credit response on that film and
the Wilmot poems.
Monday, March
17: Group Five Presents Haywood/Homework: 1) Consult discussion questions for Montagu [ER];
2) Read “Selected Letters” (Turkish Embassy Letters only),
including the background on Lady Mary Wortley Montagu [BA 485-86,
500-505].
Wednesday,
March 19: Group Six Presents Montagu/Homework: 1) Consult Handout on Ruth Perry; 2) Read
“Colonizing the Breast” Parts 1 and 2 [ER];
3) Do your task in a response.
Monday, March
24: Jigsaw Coverage of Perry/Homework: 1) Begin work on five-page Research Essay (due April 11); 2) Review the images and read the
accompanying text for William Hogarth’s Marriage A-la-Mode [BA 719-24],
preferably online where images are larger and in color (http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/315/hogarth.htm).
Wednesday, March
26: NO CLASS (ASECS Conference)
Monday, March
31: Watch and Discuss Hogarth’s Marriage ŕ la Mode/Homework: 1)
Consult discussion questions for Gray; 2) Read “Ode on the
Death of a Favorite Cat,” including background on Thomas Gray [BA 603-604,
606]; 3) Continue work on the Research Essay (due April 11).
Wednesday,
April 2: Group Seven Presents Gray/Homework: 1) Consult discussion questions for
Goldsmith; 2) Read (and
re-read) “
Monday, April
7: Group Eight Presents Goldsmith/Homework:
1) Review
conjectural responses from the first day of class; 2) Write an optional,
extra-credit response on the conjectural response (see the Assignments handout for
details); 3) Continue work
on the five-page Research Essay (due April 11).
Wednesday,
April 9: Course Retrospect/Homework: 1) Finish work on the five-page Research
Essay (due April 11); 2) Read
(and re-read) Cantos 1-3 of “Rape of
the Lock,” including the letter and background on Alexander Pope [BA 434-36,
442-51].
Friday, April
11 (5:00 PM): Research Essay Due (in English
Dept. mailbox PH 612)
Monday, April
14: Discuss Pope/Homework: 1) Read (and re-read) Cantos 4-5 of
“Rape of the Lock” and then
reread the poem in its entirety [BA 442-56]; 2) Write a response comparing and/or contrasting Pope’s
work with that of another Section Two author depending on your group
number: Group 1 (Goldsmith), Group 2 (Gray), Group 3 (Montagu), Group 4
(Hogarth), Group 5 (Behn), Group 6 (Rochester), Groups 7 and 8 (Haywood).
Wednesday,
April 16: Discuss Pope & Responses/Homework: 1) Read Handout on Exam Two; 2) Review
materials from section and then compose essay question and outline for Exam
Two; 3) Complete all extra credit and/or outstanding homework
assignments (due April 23).
Monday, April
21: Quiz on Section Two; Workshop Essay Outlines/Homework: 1) Revise outline and prepare for Exam Two;
2) Complete all outstanding homework assignments.
Wednesday,
April 23 (1:30-3:00): Exam Two (The Private Sphere)
Important
Links:
·
Collaborative Groupwork Project
(http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/315/project.htm)
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Course Syllabus
(http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/315/w08/)
·
Electronic Reserves
(http://reserves.emich.edu/eres/coursepage.aspx?cid=1321)
·
Assignments, Exams, & Extra Credit Opportunities
(http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/315/assign.htm)
·
Descriptions of Texts for Groupwork (http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/315/texts.htm)
·
List of Group Assignments
(http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/315/groups.htm)
·
Handout on Exam One
(http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/315/exam1.htm)
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Handout on Exam Two
(http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/315/exam2.htm)
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Handout on Perry
(http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/315/perry.htm)
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Researching Literature (http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/demo.htm)
·
Rubric on Peer Editing
(http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/315/rubric.htm)
[Syllabus last modified XXX 0, 0000]