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LITR 561:
Studies in Eighteenth-Century Literature
Winter
2008 Dr. Abby
Coykendall acoykenda at
emich.edu Office:
Pray-Harrold Hall 603G Phone: (734)
487-0147 (messages only) ~ or email for an appointment ~
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Literature 561: Studies in
Eighteenth-Century Literature
Literature 561
is a course in which you will investigate a wide variety of British literature
from the period that spans the late seventeenth to the early nineteenth century
(1660-1815). 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 siècle denouement. In addition to
neoclassicism, 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 a variety genres representative of the period, whether
they be orientalist, libertine, gothic, or sentimental, including those
prevailing in the visual arts such as picturesque and rococo. Likewise, although we will concentrate on the
novel, a genre widely thought to be invented in this period, we will also
consider non-fictional, semi-fictional, or at least
not-necessarily-so-novelistic genres equally fashionable at the time, such as
journalistic vehicles like the Spectator,
travel narratives, graphic novels, and epistolary works. These quasi-canonical genres are important
not only in and of themselves, but also in 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 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 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.
Texts and
Materials
The following books are
available at Ned’s bookstore (http://www.nedsbooks.com/emu/;
483-6400;
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Broadview Anthology of British
Literature, Volume 3: The Restoration and the
Eighteenth Century
ed. Joseph
Black (Broadview, 2006; ISBN 1551116111)
Eliza Haywood and Henry Fielding, Anti-Pamela
and Shamela (Broadview, 2004; ISBN 155111383X)
William Earle, Obi; or, The
History of Three-Fingered Jack (Broadview,
2005; ISBN 1551116693)
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (Broadview, 2002; ISBN 1551114798)
Some texts
will be located online in the Electronic Reserves (ER): http://reserves.emich.edu/eres/coursepage.aspx?cid=1842.
Bring a copy of each text that we will be discussing to class, whether it
be a book or a handout from the ER. You will need to have all
texts on hand for groupwork and class discussions.
Assignments
and Assessment
Instead of exams, there
will be a variety of homework assignments due each week. These will not
only keep you engaged with the array of the materials that we will cover
throughout the semester, but also make the class as interactive and
student-centered as possible. Depending on which group you are in (see
the List of Group
Assignments), you will cycle though one of the following tasks: 1)
composing a discussion question for your peers to address in class; 2) emailing a response paper to the course listserv;
3) serving as a respondent when these responses are conveyed to the rest of
class; or 4) sharing outside research or supplemental reading with your
peers. The Weekly Homework Assignments
handout has more detailed information about each assignment.
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35% |
Weekly Homework & Class Participation |
due dates: |
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15% |
Proposal for Seminar Paper (4 pages) |
April 5 (12 PM)
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5% |
Conference Style Presentation on Paper Topic |
April 23
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45% |
Research Essay (16-20 pages) |
April 26 (12 PM) |
I strongly recommend consulting with me
as early as possible to identify the topics that you want to pursue in the
research essay. That paper constitutes a large proportion of the final
grade, with the homework coming in a close second. You can reuse any of
the work that you generate through the weekly assignments in the seminar paper
itself; for example, by expanding one of your responses into a more formal
essay or by using the discussion questions or supplemental reading as a prompt
for further analysis and research.
Academic Integrity
Any
plagiarized writing will automatically result in a zero-percent grade for the
assignment. 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.
Attendance
Because this course primarily consists
of reading and discussion—rather than facts, figures, or
memorization—attendance is crucial. According to English Department
policy, students absent for more than two weeks will not be eligible to pass.
Schedule
Texts marked “BA” are located in the Broadview
Anthology, while those marked “ER” are in the Electronic
Reserves.
Week One (January 9): Overview of Course and Period
Student
Introductions; Conjectural Response; “Modern Venus” and “Lady’s Dressing Room”
Week Two
(January 16): Tropes of Gender and Sexuality in Poetry
Context: Begin “Introduction” to the Broadview Anthology [BA xxix-xliv, xlix-liii]
Theory: Ruth Perry,
“Colonizing the Breast,” Part 1 [ER] (2ab)
Texts: John Wilmot, “Disabled Debauchee” and
“Imperfect Enjoyment” [BA 236, 240] (1a)
Aphra Behn, “The
Disappointment” [BA 140] (2a)
Lady Mary
Wortley Montagu, “Reasons that Induced” [BA 488]
Alexander
Pope, Rape of the Lock [BA 442-56] (1b)
Thomas Gray,
“Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat” [BA 606] (2b)
Optional: “Reading
Poetry” [BA 863-82]; Cynthia Wall, Introduction to Rape of the Lock; Laura Brown, “Capitalizing on Women”; Suvir Kaul,
“Why Selima Drowns”; Blake and Bentley, “Ode” Illustrations [ER]
Homework: Group 1 DQ;
Group 2 Response;
Group 3 Research;
Group 4 Respondent
Week Three
(January 23): Amorous Fiction and Enlightenment Masquerade
Context: Finish “Introduction” to the Broadview Anthology [BA xlv-xlix, liii-lxii]
“Restoration
and Eighteenth Century,” Part 3 (from Longman
Anthology) [ER]
Theory: Terry Castle, Masquerade and Civilization [ER] (3a)
Ruth Perry,
“Colonizing the Breast,” Part 2 [ER] (3b)
Texts: Eliza Haywood, Fantomina [BA 514-32]
(2a, 3ab)
Oliver
Goldsmith, Vicar of
Optional: Judith
Butler, Gender Trouble; Mary Russo,
“Female Grotesques” [ER]
Homework: Group 2 DQ;
Group 3 Response;
Group 4 Research;
Group 1 Respondent
Week Four
(January 30): Gender and Genre
Context: Begin
introduction to Anti-Pamela and Shamela
[7-29]
Theory: Ann Bermingham, “Picturesque &
Ready-to-Wear Femininity” [ER] (4ac)
William
Warner, “Pamela Media Event” [ER] (4b)
Texts: Samuel Richardson, Pamela, Selections [ER] (3a, 4a)
Henry
Fielding, Shamela [231-76] (3b, 4bc)
Optional: Henry
Fielding, “Female Husband”; Terry Castle, “Matters Not Fit” [ER]
Homework: Group 3 DQ;
Group 4 Response;
Group 1 Research;
Group 2 Respondent
Week Five
(February 6): The “Rise” of the Novel
Context: Finish
introduction to Anti-Pamela and Shamela
[29-43]
Theory: William
Warner, “Elevation of the Novel” [ER] (1ab)
Text: Begin Eliza
Haywood, Anti-Pamela [53-125] (1ab, 4abc)
Optional: “Print
Culture, Stage Culture” [BA 533+]; Michael McKeon, Secret
History of Domesticity [ER]
Homework: Group 4 DQ;
Group 1 Response;
Group 2 Research;
Group 3 Respondent
Week Six
(February 13): The Politics of the Private Sphere
Theory: Nancy
Armstrong, Desire and Domestic Fiction
[ER] (2ab)
Text: Finish Eliza
Haywood, Anti-Pamela [125-223] (1ab, 2ab)
Optional: Michel
Foucault, “We Other Victorians”; Ian Watt, Rise
of the Novel [ER]
Homework: Group 1 DQ;
Group 2 Response;
Group 3 Research;
Group 4 Respondent
Week Seven
(February 20): Urbanization, Sentimentalism, and Imperial Interiors
Theory: Raymond
Williams, Country and City [ER] (3ab)
Texts: William Hogarth, Marriage A-la-Mode [preferably ER
or online,
also BA 719-24] (2a)
Jonathan
Swift, “Description of a City Shower” [BA 302-4] (3b)
Edmund Burke, Philosophical Enquiry [BA 733-35] (2b)
Oliver
Goldsmith, “Deserted Village” [BA 677-83]
(3a)
Optional: Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities [ER]; Laura Brown, “The Metropolis” [ER]
Homework: Group 2 DQ;
Group 3 Response;
Group 4 Research;
Group 1 Respondent
Week Eight (February 27): NO CLASS (Winter Recess)
Week Nine (March
5): Colonial Context and the Transatlantic Trade
Context: Srinivas
Aravamudan, Introduction to Obi
[7-51]
Theory: Mary Louise Pratt, “Arts of the Contact Zone”
[ER]
Ella Shohat
and Robert Stam, “Tropes of Empire” [ER]
Text: William
Earle, Obi; or, The
History of Three-Fingered Jack [68-158]
Optional: Akhil Gupta,
“Reincarnation of Souls and the Rebirth of Commodities”; Lynn Festa, “Making
Humans Human,” Sentimental Figures of
Empire [ER]
Homework: Find a passage from the back of the book to summarize and discuss in
class. The passage should apply both to
the novel and one of the theorists.
Focus on a different appendix depending on your group number Group 1 (Appendix A); Group 2 (Appendix B);
Group 3 (Appendix C); Group 4 (Appendix A, B, or C).
Week Ten (March
12): The Travel Narrative
Theory: Anne
McClintock, Imperial Leather [ER] (4abc)
Texts: Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu, Turkish Embassy Letters [BA
500-5] (3a, 4c)
Richard
Steele, “Inkle and Yarico” [ER] (3b, 4a)
Jonathan
Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, Selections
from Parts I-II [BA 317-26; 347-59; 363; 370-71; 376-78] (4b)
Optional: Malek
Alloula, Colonial Harem; Srinivas
Aravamudan, “Petting Oroonoko” [ER]
Homework: Group 3 DQ;
Group 4 Response;
Group 1 Research;
Group 2 Respondent
Week Eleven (March
19): Gothic Novel
Context: David Hume,
“Of Miracles” [BA 134-35] (4a)
Theory: Edward Said,
“Imagined Geography” [ER] (1ab)
Texts: Horace Walpole, Castle of Otranto [BA 622-72] (4bc,
1ab)
Optional: Michel
Foucault, Discipline and Punish; E.
J. Clery, Rise of Supernatural Fiction
[ER]
Homework: Group 4 DQ;
Group 1 Response;
Group 2 Research;
Group 3 Respondent
Week Twelve (March 26): NO CLASS (Cancelled for ASECS Conference)
Begin work on
the research proposal (see Guidelines), which should be well
underway before your individual conference next week.
Week Thirteen
(April 2): Individual Conferences in Lieu of
Regular Class (see Schedule)
Come to your appointment prepared to discuss your research
essay and then finalize your research proposal (due April 5 by 12PM).
Week Fourteen
(April 9): Gothic Parody I
Context: Claire
Grogan, Introduction to Northanger Abbey
[7-23]
Text: Jane Austen,
Northanger Abbey [37-138]
Homework: Find a passage from the back of the book to summarize, discuss, and
apply to the novel in class. Focus on a
different appendix depending on your group number Group 1 (Appendix A or B); Group 2 (Appendix
C); Group 3 (Appendix D); Group 4 (Appendix E).
Week Fifteen
(April 16): Gothic Parody II
Text: Jane Austen,
Northanger Abbey [138-238]
Homework: Find a passage from at least one literary
text and at least one theoretical text that we covered during Weeks 1-6 to summarize,
discuss, and apply to the novel in class.
Week Sixteen
(April 23): Research Presentations (Essays due
April 26 12PM)
[Syllabus
last modified January 19, 2008]