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18th-Century British Fiction & the
Cultural Institutions of the Novel Fall 2008 Dr. Abby Coykendall acoykenda at
emich.edu Office Phone: 487-0147 Office Location: Pray-Harrold Hall 603G Office Hours: Monday 2:00-3:30 & 7:40-9:20 PM ~ email for appointments ~
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“Angelus Novus
[by Paul Klee] is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees
one single catastrophe that keeps piling ruin upon ruin ... The angel would like to stay, awaken the
dead, and make whole what has been smashed.
But a storm is blowing from
— Walter Benjamin, “Ninth Thesis on the Philosophy of History”
Literature 563: Studies in Eighteenth-Century
Fiction
Novel Geographies:
Eighteenth-Century British Fiction & the Cultural Institutions of the Novel
LITR 563 is a course in which you will investigate a wide variety of
British fiction spanning the late seventeenth and early nineteenth
centuries. This period, generally
referred to as the “long” eighteenth century, extends somewhat beyond the 1700s
to accommodate the revolutions framing the century proper, both of which
influence the direction of British culture profoundly; namely, the so-called
Glorious Revolution of 1688 (instituting a new Protestant monarchy by Parliamentary
fiat alone), as well as the French Revolution, the period’s spectacular fin de siècle dénouement.
Throughout the term, we will test both the utopian and apocalyptic
visions of the British enlightenment, not only putting literary works in dialogue
with the historical or philosophical context of the time, but also examining
how these works shape the myriad claims to (and contestations against)
modernity that continue to vex our own.
Perhaps more than any other era, the eighteenth century represents a
watershed moment, one that we must revisit periodically to interrogate, fully
and honestly, the real conditions of our own.
While often considered the quaint tea-and-crumpets blueprint for civil
societies across the globe, the British enlightenment in fact witnesses both
the positives and the negatives of modernity in the extreme. Alternately hailed as the “Age of Reason” and
the “Age of Exuberance,” the period thrives on experimentation and extremity,
with conspicuous consumption and unfettered commerce—most notably, in the
transatlantic traffic of human beings—going hand in hand with the enlightenment
ethos of progressive humanism typically made most familiar to us. Nevertheless, in midst of the massive expansion
of the slave trade, the birth of the market economy, and the increasingly rigid
sex-gender system (culminating in “Angle of the House” domesticity), we find a
celebration of art and culture that students of the humanities still cannot
help but admire.
As befits the period, eighteenth-century fiction epitomizes both
trajectories of this dialectic in the extreme, ranging in style from the most
depraved gothic extravagance to the most scrupulously moralistic neoclassical
“comic epic in prose” (the term “novel” then being too dicey a denomination for
Fielding’s now classic Tom Jones). We thus will survey a wide variety of genres,
whether ultra-satiric or ultra-sentimental, brazenly libertine or painfully
didactic, including those prevailing in the novel, a literary vehicle first
engineered over the course of the century in conjunction with its target
audience, the middle class. We will
consider as well non-fictional or semi-fictional works fashionable at the time,
such as periodicals, travel narratives, epistolary works, or criminal
biographies—genres which are important not only in and of themselves, but also
in terms of how they shape the conventions of the novel, the genre of choice
and the ultimate guardian of the literary real from this period onwards.
Texts and Materials
The following books are available at the EMU Bookstore in the
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Elizabeth Inchbald, A Simple
Story (Broadview, 2007; ISBN 1551116154)
Alan Richardson, Ed., Three
Oriental Tales (Houghton
Mifflin, 2002; ISBN 0618107312)
William Godwin, Caleb
Williams (Penguin,
2005; ISBN 0141441232)
The remaining texts can be
found online and then printed for free in the campus computer labs. See the Electronic Reserves (ER) page: http://reserves.emich.edu/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=1627, password 563. *** Make sure
to bring a copy of each text that we cover in class, whether found in the ER or
an actual book. You will need everything on hand for
groupwork and class discussion.
Assessment Weights
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40% |
Weekly Homework & Class
Participation |
minimum length: |
due dates: |
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10% |
Proposal for Research
Paper |
4 pages |
November 25 (9:15 PM)
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5% |
Conference-Style
Presentation on Topic |
8
minutes |
December
15 (5:00 PM)
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45% |
Research Essay |
16-20
pages |
December
18 (12:00 PM)
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Coursework & Assignments
Consult with me as early as possible in the term to brainstorm possible
topics for the research paper, which constitutes a large proportion of the
final grade with the homework coming in a close second. Instead of
cumulative exams, there will be various kinds of informal assignments due
almost every week to ensure ongoing participation and progress: composing
discussion questions, writing informal responses, presenting on outside
reading, or serving as a respondent for the other students. Everyone will cycle though these tasks twice
over the semester, beginning with a different one based on the group number and
then doing the rest in turn. See the
Weekly Homework Assignments handout for more detailed descriptions of each task
(/hmwk.htm).
There is no groupwork properly speaking—i.e. working collaboratively with peers on the same assignment—so you do not have to meet with peers outside of class or have other people besides yourself in a group. The groups are simply a way to organize which student does what (and with which text) each class period: diversifying the topics that we highlight in the discussion, the people who are responsible for bringing them to our attention, as well as the skills and approaches which used to do so. Most of the period will be structured around the interactive discussion that results from presenting on the homework.
Instructor Availability
I will be
delighted to discuss any course-related questions, interests, or concerns in
person or by phone during my office hours, as well as through email. Email is the most reliable way to
reach me outside of the office since the messaging system for my phone is
dysfunctional at best. Emails
with straight-forward questions usually receive a reply within a few hours to a
day; those with more complicated questions usually receive a reply before the
next class period. Please
limit your email inquiries to those which I alone can answer so that I can give
more pressing inquiries the attention which they deserve. For example, if you are unsure about a
due date, consult the syllabus, the handouts, or the peers in your group (/groups.htm) and
then make sure to consult me whenever that confusion persists.
Campus Safety
Please sign up for the emergency
text-messaging system (www.emich.edu/alerts)
so that on the off-chance a calamity afflicts the university, the campus police
can notify us. Also consider availing
yourself of the campus escort service, Student Eyes and Ears for University
Safety, by calling 48-SEEUS (487-3387).
Attendance
Because this course primarily consists of reading and discussion—rather
than facts, figures, or memorization—regular attendance is crucial. You never need to explain your
absences, as I always assume that you have an excellent reason to miss
class. However, as per English Department policy,
students who miss more than two classes will not be eligible to
pass. Reserve the allowable absences for illnesses, car accidents, or other
emergencies that prevent you from coming to campus and make sure not to exhaust them too
early in the term. When you
are absent, contact the students in your group (/groups.htm) to
share notes or determine what you missed. All absences up to the third
are automatically excused, the missed homework is due on your return, and any
changes to the schedule will be sent to the class as a whole by email.
Academic Integrity
Fundamental
to any college course is the free expression of thought, which requires not
only learning the subject at hand, but being able to make independent judgments
about it. Understanding and
avoiding plagiarism, and doing all of the course work on your own, is therefore
imperative. Copying the
assignments of peers, taking credit for essays which you find on the internet,
or recycling your own essays for double credit are all forms of academic
dishonesty, and for very good reason. Each
interferes with the sole purpose, and the unique benefit, of going to college;
namely, the unfettered exercise of an informed mind.
Plagiarism,
put simply, is taking either the ideas or the words of another person and reusing them as
if they are your own. It
does not matter whether you are drawing on Wikipedia for mundane information or
channeling the most holy of books for heavenly inspiration, you must acknowledge when you
make use of the concepts or expressions of other people under any
circumstances. When
describing the ideas of someone else in your own words, make sure to state as
such (So and so says X ... );
most importantly, when inserting the words of someone else into your writing,
make sure to credit that person for the passage and place quotation marks on
either side (So and so says, “X”). Writing that lacks such
acknowledgements will pass as your own by default, and writing that thus seems
to be your own, without actually being your own, will be plagiarizing the
original source.
Any
cheating, plagiarism, or other academic dishonesty will result in an automatic
0% grade for the assignment; any second instance will result in an outright
failure of the course. There
is no excuse for academic dishonesty, nor any exceptions to this policy.
All texts are located
in the Electronic
Reserves (ER) unless otherwise noted. The number-letter combinations in parentheses
correspond to the group and member designations found on the Group Assignments
handout (/groups.htm);
that is, “2b” would be member B of Group 2, while “3ab” would be both Members A
and B of Group 3.
Week One (September 8):
Overview of Course and Period
Course Introduction;
Student Introductions; Conjectural Response
Week Two (September 15):
Colonial Encounters
Context: “Restoration and Eighteenth Century,” Parts I & II, from Longman Anthology
Theory: Mary Louise Pratt, “Arts of the
Contact Zone” (2ab)
Texts: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Turkish
Embassy Letters (1a, 2a)
Richard
Steele, “Inkle and Yarico” (2b)
Joseph
Addison, “Royal Exchange” (1b)
Optional: Aravamudan, “Montagu in the Hammam” (3a); Kietzman, “Cultural Dislocation” (3b); Konuk, “Ethnomasquerade” (3c)
Optional Context: Montagu (
Homework: DQ (Group 1);
Response (Group 2); Research (Group 3); Respondent (Group 4)
Week Three (September 22):
Black Diaspora
Context: Felicity Nussbaum, Introduction to Global
Eighteenth Century (2a)
Theory: Ella Shohat and Robert Stam,
“Tropes of Empire” (3abc)
Texts: Mary Prince, History of Mary
Prince (2b, 3abc)
Optional:
Optional Context: Morgan, “
Homework: DQ (Group 2);
Response (Group 3); Research (Group 4); Respondent (Group 1)
Week Four (September 29):
Orienting the Enlightenment
Context: Alan Richardson, Begin Three Oriental Tales introduction [OT], pg. 1-7
Theory: Edward Said, Selections from Orientalism (3c, 4ab)
Texts: Frances Sheridan, History of
Nourjahad [OT] (4ab)
Criticism: Margaret Anne Doody,
“Morality and Alienated Time” [OT] (3a)
Felicity Nussbaum, “Empire of
Love” [OT] (3b)
Optional: Alloula, Colonial
Harem (1a); Fabian, “Of Dogs Alive, Birds Dead, and Time to Tell a
Story” (1b)
Homework: DQ (Group 3);
Response (Group 4); Research (Group 1); Respondent (Group 2)
Week
Five (October 6): Eroticizing the Oriental
Context: Alan Richardson, Continue Three Oriental Tales introduction [OT], pg. 1-7
Theory: Anne McClintock, Imperial Leather (1ab)
Texts: William Beckford, Vathek [OT] (1ab, 4ab)
Optional: Haggerty, Men in Love (2a); Silverman,
“The Dominant Fiction” (2b)
Optional Criticism & Context: Potkay, “Beckford’s Heaven of Boys” [OT]; Hitchcock, English
Sexualities
Homework: DQ (Group 4);
Response (Group 1); Research (Group 2); Respondent (Group 3)
Week
Six (October 13): Amorous Fiction
Context: Deidre Lynch, “Novels in the World of Moving Goods” (2a)
Theory: William Warner, Abridged
version of “Elevation of the Novel” (2b)
Texts: Aphra Behn, “History of the
Nun” (1a, 2a)
Samuel Richardson, Selections
from Pamela (1b)
Oliver Goldsmith, Selections from
Vicar of
Optional: Watt, Rise of the
Novel (3a); Gallagher, Nobody’s
Story (3b); Brown, “Why the Story” (3c)
Homework: DQ (Group 1);
Response (Group 2); Research (Group 3); Respondent (Group 4)
Week
Seven (October 20): Performing Gender and Genre
Context: “Restoration and Eighteenth Century,” Part III, from Longman Anthology
Theory: Ruth Perry, Abridged version of
“Colonizing the Breast” (3abc)
Texts: Eliza Haywood, Fantomina (2a, 3ab)
Henry Fielding, “Female Husband” (2b, 3c)
Optional:
Optional Context: Eliza Haywood (Gale entry); Haywood, “Female Spectator”
Homework: DQ (Group 2);
Response (Group 3); Research (Group 4); Respondent (Group 1)
Week
Eight (October 27): The
Imperial Interior
Context: Anna Lott, Begin Simple Story introduction [11-22]
Theory: Ann Bermingham, Abridged
“Picturesque & Ready-to-Wear Femininity” (3a, 4ab)
Texts: Begin Elizabeth
Inchbald, Simple Story [1-114] (3bc, 4ab)
Optional: Armstrong,
Desire and Domestic Fiction (1a); Foucault,
“We Other Victorians” (1b)
Homework: DQ (Group 3);
Response (Group 4); Research (Group 1); Respondent (Group 2)
Week Nine (November 3): Masquerade
Context: Anna Lott, Continue Simple Story introduction [23-34]
Theory: Terry Castle, Masquerade and Civilization (1ab, 4a)
Texts: Continue Elizabeth
Inchbald, Simple Story [115-218] (1ab, 4b)
Optional: Jameson, Political Unconsciousness (2a);
Stallybrass & White, “Poetics of Transgression” (2b)
Homework: DQ (Group 4);
Response (Group 1); Research (Group 2); Respondent (Group 3)
Week Ten (November 10): Domestic Fiction
Context: Anna Lott, Finish Simple Story introduction [35-46]
Texts: Finish
Elizabeth Inchbald, Simple Story
[219-342]
Homework: Write a response to Inchbald’s
novel incorporating 2 quotes, one from Castle
and another from the appended materials depending on your group: Appendix A (Group 1); Appendix B (Group 2); Appendix C #1-3
(Group 3); Appendix C #4-5 (Group 4).
Week Eleven (November 17): Representing
Revolution
Context: Maurice Hindle, Begin Caleb Williams introduction [ix-xxv]
Theory: Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick,
“Towards the Gothic: Terrorism and Homosexual Panic”
Texts: Begin William Godwin, Caleb Williams [1-115]
Optional Criticism: Corbert, “‘Representing
the Unspeakable’”; Balfour, “Promises, Promises”
Homework: Begin work on the Research Proposal (/essay.htm), due
November 25 by 9:15 PM; Also pick a passage from the novel to discuss in class,
finding at least one connection to a literary text covered in different weeks
depending on your group: Weeks 1-2 (Group 1); Weeks
3-4 (Group 2); Weeks 5-6 (Group 3); Week 7 (Group 4).
Week Twelve (November 24):
Gothic Novel I
Context: Maurice Hindle, Continue Caleb Williams introduction [xxv-xli]
Texts: Continue William Godwin,
Caleb Williams [6-220]
Optional Criticism: Bender,
“Impersonal Violence”
Homework: Finish the Research Proposal (/essay.htm) by 11/25; Also pick a
passage from the novel to discuss in class, finding at least one connection to
a theorist covered in different weeks depending on your group: Weeks 3-4 (Group 1); Weeks 5-6 (Group 2); Week 7 (Group 3); Weeks 1-2 (Group 4).
Week Thirteen (December 1): Gothic Novel II
Texts: Finish William Godwin, Caleb Williams [221-336]
Homework: Write a response to Godwin’s
Caleb Williams incorporating two quotes, one from a theorist or critic covered
in Weeks 11-13 and another from a theorist covered in different weeks depending
on your group: Weeks 5-6 (Group 1); Weeks 7 (Group 2); Week 1-2 (Group 3); Weeks 3-4 (Group 4).
Week Fourteen (December
8): Individual Conferences in Lieu of Class (see Schedule)
Week Fifteen (December 15): Research Presentations (Essays due December 18 at 12 PM)
[Syllabus last modified September 8, 2008]