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Literature 561: The Enlightenment
and Its Discontents
Studies
in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Literature fall 2006 Dr. Abby Coykendall http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/ Office Phone: 734-487-0147 (messages
only) Office Location: Pray-Harrold Hall 603G Office Hours: Friday 1:30-6:30 PM ~ or email for an appointment
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Literature
561: Studies in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Literature (The
Enlightenment and Its Discontents)
Literature 561
is a course in which you will investigate a wide variety of British literature
from the period that spans the late seventeenth, eighteenth, and early
nineteenth centuries. This period is
generally referred to as the “long” eighteenth century in order to account for
the revolutions that precede and conclude the eighteenth century proper, both
of which influence the direction of British literary culture profoundly. Namely, the Restoration (of the British
monarchy) following the Civil War and, of course, the French Revolution, the
period’s spectacular fin de siècle
denouement. In addition to
neo-classicism, which is only one of many literary movements prevalent at the
time (and not necessarily the most interesting nor even the most important
one), we will consider other genres no less representative of the period,
whether they be gothic, orientalist, libertine, or sentimental, including those
prevailing in the visual arts such as the picturesque, chinoiserie, or
rococo. Likewise, although we will
concentrate on the novel, a genre widely thought to be first invented and
developed in this period, we will consider other non-fictional, semi-fictional,
or at least not-necessarily-so-novelistic genres almost equally fashionable at
the time, such as print journalistic vehicles like the Spectator, travel narratives, or epistolary works. These quasi-canonical narratives and genres
are important in and of themselves, as well as in terms of how they shape the
emergence of the novel (arguably, merely an omnivorous, mass-produced hybrid of
them all) as the genre of choice and as the ultimate guardian of the literary
real from this period onwards.
Perhaps more than any other period, the
eighteenth century represents a moment that we must evaluate and reevaluate to
challenge and interrogate the values of our own time. Although often considered the quaint, tea-and-crumpets
blueprint for civil societies across the globe, the British eighteenth century
witnesses both the positives and 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 (culminating in “Angle of the House”
Victorian domesticity), we 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 whether discussing
literature or world events, we will attempt to 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.
Texts and Materials
The following books are available at Ned’s (http://www.nedsbooks.com/emu/; 483-6400;
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Broadview Anthology of
British Literature, Volume 3: The Restoration and the
Eighteenth Century [BABL]
Ed. Joseph Black et al. (Broadview, 2006; ISBN 1551116111)
Matthew
Gregory Lewis, The Monk: A Romance,
Ed. D. L. Macdonald & Kathleen Scherf
(Broadview, 2003; ISBN 1551112272)
Frances Burney, Evelina: A Cultural Edition, Ed. Kristina
Straub
(Bedford, 1997; ISBN 0312097298)
Make sure to get the same editions
pictured above even if you purchase the books online, where they may be
significantly less expensive; otherwise, the differing page numbers will make
it difficult, if not impossible, for you to follow along with class
discussions. If you purchase the Broadview Anthology and the Monk in a bundled package at the
bookstore, you should receive a discounted price.
Several required texts are located online
through the
Course Itinerary
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Section One: The Global
Eighteenth Century |
Behn, Oroonoko; Steele,
“Inkle and Yarico”; Addison, “Royal Exchange”; |
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Section Two: Novel Geographies
& The Contact Zone |
Selections from Swift, Gulliver’s Travels; Defoe, Robinson Crusoe; |
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Section
Three: Country, City, and
Colony |
Pope, Rape of the Lock;
Gray, “Distant Prospect,” “Death of a Favorite Cat,” & “Elegy”; Swift,
“Description of a City Shower”; Oliver Goldsmith,
“Deserted Village” |
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Section Four: Inventions,
Ideologies: Sexuality and Gender |
Earl of |
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Section Three: Romantic Revolutions |
Burke, Philosophical Enquiry
and Reflections on the Revolution in |
Assessment & Assignments
Aside from the required
reading, there will one of four different kinds of homework assignments due
almost every week of the semester: 1) an informal response; 2) a discussion
question for your peers; 3) reading one of the optional critical materials; or
4) undertaking outside research on one of the primary texts covered for the
week. If you do tasks 3 or 4, you will
need to bring in a quote from those supplementary materials and briefly discuss
the main contentions of the author.
Each group will cycle though these various assignments as
indicated on the schedule. See the List
of Group Assignments (http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/561/groups.htm) for
information about which group you are in, and see the Weekly Homework
Assignments (http://people.emich.edu/acoykenda/561/hmwk.htm) handout for
more detailed information about the homework.
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35% |
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Weekly Homework Assignments |
due dates: |
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10% |
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Research Proposal (4 pages) |
November 29
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5% |
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Research Presentation |
December 20
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50% |
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Research Paper (16-20 pages) |
December
22 |
I strongly
recommend consulting with me as early as possible in the semester to identify the
topics that you want to pursue in the research paper. You can recycle any of the work that you
generate through the homework assignments and/or the research proposal in the
paper itself; e.g. by expanding one of your responses into a more formal (and more
organized) critical essay or by using one of the discussion questions as a
basis for further analysis and research.
Academic Integrity
Any plagiarized writing will automatically result in a failing,
zero-percent grade for the assignment, as well as in further disciplinary
action from the Student Judicial Services 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. **Note: turning a paper in that you wrote
for another course for this class, i.e. recycling the same words for double
credit, also constitutes academic dishonesty at EMU.
Schedule
Section I: The Global Eighteenth
Century
Week One
(September 6):
Student
Introductions; Introduction to Course & Period; Swift, “Lady’s Dressing
Room”; Edward Said on Orientalism (40 min)
Week Two (September 13):
Context: “Restoration and Eighteenth Century,” Broadview Anthology [BABL
xxix-xl]
Theorist: Edward Said, “Imaginative Geography,” Orientalism, Sections [ER]
Ella Shohat and Robert Stam, “Tropes of Empire,” Unthinking Eurocentrism [ER]
Primary
Text: Aphra Behn, Oroonoko [BABL 139-40; 144-78]
Optional: Catherine
Gallagher, Introduction to Oroonoko [ER
3-25]
Srinivas
Aravamudan, “Petting Oroonoko,” Tropicopolitans
[ER]
HOMEWORK: Grp. 1 Response; Grp. 2 & 3 Discussion
Question; Grp. 4 Opt. Reading; Grp. 5 Research
Week Three (September 20):
Context: “Restoration and Eighteenth Century,” Broadview Anthology [BABL xl-liii]
Artwork: Theodor Galle,
Theorists: Mary Louise Pratt, “Arts of the Contact Zone”
(selections) [ER]
Ann
Bermingham, “Picturesque & Ready-to-Wear Femininity” (part two) [ER]
Primary
Texts: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Poems and Letters [BABL
485-86; 488-89; 495-512]
Richard Steele,
“Inkle and Yarico” [ER]
Joseph Addison, “Royal
Exchange” [BABL
709-12]
Optional: Malek Alloula, The Colonial Harem
(3-26) [ER]
Peter
Hulme, “Inkle and Yarico” [ER]
HOMEWORK: Grp. 5 Response; Grp. 1 & 2 Discussion
Question; Grp. 3 Opt. Reading; Grp. 4 Research
Section II: Novel Geographies & The Contact Zone
Week Four (September 27):
Film: Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (39
min)
Context: “Restoration and Eighteenth Century,” Broadview Anthology [BABL liii-lxiv]
Primary
Text: Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels [BABL 302-4; 317-30; 332-40; 343-59; 361-66; 373-84; 389-92; 395-98;
top of pg. 410 to 413]
Theorists: Benedict Anderson, Imagined
Communities [ER]
Optional: Clement Hawes,
“Swift’s Imminent Critique” [ER]
HOMEWORK: Grp. 4 Response; Grp. 5 & 1 Discussion
Question; Grp. 2 Opt. Reading; Grp. 3 Research
Week
Five (October 4):
Film: Portions of Robinson
Crusoe (1996), time permitting
Context: Defoe Background
& Crusoe Illustrations [BABL 242-43; 271-73]
Primary Text: Daniel Defoe,
Robinson Crusoe, Selections [ER]
Olaudah
Equiano, Interesting Narrative (selections)
[ER]
Theorists: Anne McClintock,
Imperial Leather [ER]
Optional: Peter Hulme,
“Robinson Crusoe and Friday” [ER]
Roxann Wheeler, “Politicization of Race” [ER]
HOMEWORK: Grp. 3 Response; Grp. 4 & 5 Discussion
Question; Grp. 1 Opt. Reading; Grp. 2 Research
Section III: Country, City, and Colony
Week
Six (October 11):
Primary Texts: Alexander
Pope, Rape of the Lock [BABL 434-36; 443-56]
Giles
Jacob, “Rape of the Smock” [ER]
Theorist: Ann Bermingham,
“Picturesque & Ready-to-Wear Femininity” (part one) [ER]
Criticism: Cynthia Wall,
Introduction to The Rape [ER]
Optional: Laura Brown,
“Capitalizing on Women” [ER]
HOMEWORK: Groups 1-2 Discussion Questions; Groups 3-4
Responses; Group 5 Opt. Reading
Week
Seven (October 18):
Primary Texts: Jonathan Swift, “Description of a City
Shower” [BABL 304]
Thomas
Gray, “Distant Prospect,” “Death of a Favorite Cat,” & “Elegy” [BABL 603-6; 607-9]
Oliver
Goldsmith, “Deserted Village” [BABL 677-83]
Context: William Blake,
Illustrations for the “Ode” & the “Elegy” [ER]
Richard
Bentley, Illustrations for the “Ode” [ER]
Theorist: Raymond Williams, Country and the City [ER]
Optional: Suvir Kaul, “Why Selima Drowns:
Thomas Gray and the Domestication of the Imperial Ideal” [ER]
Laura
Brown, “The Metropolis” [ER]
HOMEWORK: Group 5 Discussion Question; Groups 1-2
Responses; Groups 3-4 Opt. Reading
Section IV: Inventions, Ideologies: Sexuality and Gender
Week
Nine (October 25):
Film: Portions of The
Libertine (2004), time permitting
Primary Texts: Eliza
Haywood, Fantomina [BABL 513-32]
Earl
of
Selections
from Oliver Goldsmith, Vicar of
Theorist: Terry Castle, Masquerade and Civilization [ER]
Optional: William Warner,
"Elevation of the Novel" [ER]
Madeleine
Kahn, Narrative Transvestism [ER]
HOMEWORK: Groups 3-4 Discussion Questions; Group 5
Response; Groups 1-2 Opt. Reading
Week
Eight (November 1):
Primary Text: Frances
Burney, Evelina, Volume One
Theorist: Ruth Perry,
“Colonizing the Breast” (part one) [ER]
HOMEWORK: All Groups
do Discussion Questions
Week
Ten (November 8):
Primary Text: Frances
Burney, Evelina, Volume Two
Theorist: Deidre Lynch,
“Agoraphobia and Interiority,” from Economy
of Character [ER]
HOMEWORK: Find one passage from the supplementary
materials in the back of the book to apply to the novel and to discuss in
class.
Week
Eleven (November 15):
Primary Text: Frances Burney, Evelina,
Volume Three
Criticism: Ruth Perry,
“Colonizing the Breast” (part two) [ER]
HOMEWORK: All Groups do Responses on Evelina.
Week
Twelve (November 22): NO CLASS (Thanksgiving Recess)
HOMEWORK: Prepare Research Proposal & Begin
Reading the Monk (Vol. 1)
Section V: Romantic Revolutions
Week
Thirteen (November 29): NO
CLASS (Conferences)
HOMEWORK: Finish Research Proposal & Continue
Reading the Monk (Vol. 2)
Week
Thirteen (December 6):
Primary Text: Matthew Lewis, The
Monk, Volumes One & Two
Theorist: Edmund Burke, Philosophical Enquiry [BABL 733-34]
Edmund
Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in
HOMEWORK: All Groups do Responses on The Monk.
Week
Fourteen (December 13):
Primary Text: Matthew Lewis, The
Monk, Volume Three
Theorist: Mary
Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights
of Men [ER]
HOMEWORK: Find one passage from the supplementary
materials in the back of the book to apply to the novel and to discuss in
class.
Week
Fifteen (December 20): Research
Presentations
HOMEWORK: Complete Research Paper (due Dec. 22 by 5PM
in Engl. Dept. mailbox or under office door)