ENGLISH 313: Eighteenth-Century Literature Syllabus

Mon/Wed/Fri 10:30-11:20 a.m. in Newton 212

Gillian Paku, [email protected] Office: Welles 218c, tel. 245 5272 Office hours: M/W/F 12:30-1:20 and 2:30-4:00p.m. Other times are available by arrangement. Please make an appointment even within my regularly scheduled hours to avoid double-booking.

General Description: 3-level courses in the literature track put a spotlight on the connections between texts and contexts. No matter what the title, a course at this level gives students an understanding of the dynamic relationship between individual texts and the broader culture from which they emerge. Many, though not all, of these courses are organized with an eye towards historical periods and movements. Those that concern written texts pay particular attention to the historical development of language.

Course Description: A survey of an exuberant period in English literary and social history from John Dryden to Jane Austen, in which the alternating rhythms of containment, pressure, and explosion give us racy Restoration drama and the pointed comedy of manners, hilarious and sometimes savage satire, and the emergent realist novel alongside effusions of melodrama, mystery, and sentimentality. We trace also the rise of the periodical newspaper, the biography, and the life of the artist. We examine how these literary forms shape and reflect an idea of government, nationhood and empire, we follow travels around the world, around town, and around the self, and we pay attention to literature by women, literature about women, and literature by women about women who read literature.

SUNY Geneseo will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented physical, emotional, or learning disabilities. Students should notify the Director in the Office of Disability Services (Tabitha Buggie-Hunt, 105D Erwin, [email protected]) and their individual faculty of any needed accommodations as early as possible in the semester.

You should familiarize yourself with the resources available to you at The Writing Learning Center.

Learning Outcomes: ~ students will demonstrate the ability to read literary texts closely ~ students will demonstrate the ability to write logical analysis of literary texts in an appropriately academic register

1 ~ students will demonstrate the ability to read texts in relation to history ~ students will understand how texts are related to social and cultural categories, enterprises, and institutions ~ students will understand the nature and limitations of contextualizing texts historically ~ students will understand the interplay of genres and literary movements across a significant period of time ~ students will understand how language as a system and linguistic change over time inform literature as aesthetic object, expressive medium, and social document ~ students will demonstrate the ability to work as a team to produce oral presentations ~ students will demonstrate literary research skills

Required Texts:

~ The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume C: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century ed. Stephen Greenblatt, M. H. Abrams, Lawrence Lipking, and James Noggle (page numbers follow 8 th edition; 7 th edition is fine) ~ Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon (Oxford World's Classics) ed. James Kinsley, John Davie, and Claudia L. Johnson ~ John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (Fanny Hill ) (Oxford World’s Classics) ed. Peter Sabor ~ Daniel Defoe, Roxana (Oxford World's Classics) ed. John Mullan ~ George Etherege, The Man of Mode (New Mermaids) ed. John Barnard ~ Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield (Oxford World's Classics) ed. Arthur Friedman and Robert L. Mack

Schedule of Classes: Week 1 Introduction, syllabus – schedule of presentations. Handout from Alexander Pope’s Dunciad Historical outline. John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester: “The Imperfect Enjoyment” (Norton 2169-2171); Aphra Behn “The Disappointment” (Norton)

Week 2 Rochester: “To the Post Boy,” “An Allusion to Horace,” “A Song: Absent from Thee I Languish Still” (myCourses). Schedule of presentations. John Dryden: Mac Flecknoe (Norton 2111-2117) Dryden: Mac Flecknoe [P1: Hubbub ]

Week 3 George Etherege: Man of Mode Etherege: Man of Mode [P2: clothing (or with Fantomina )] In-class essay exercise: Dryden’s Song from Marriage à la Mode

Week 4 Discuss essays [P3: cuisine (cheese)] Eliza Haywood, Fantomina (myCourses) Haywood, Fantomina

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Week 5 Jonathan Swift: A Modest Proposal (Norton 2462-2468) First paper due, 5pp, 15% Swift: Stella, Description of the Morning and City Shower, Cassinus and Peter (Norton 2303 and myCourses) Swift: Gulliver’s Travels , Voyage 2 (Brobdingnag) (Norton 2365-2405)

Week 6 Alexander Pope: “Impromptu to Lady Winchelsea” and “The Answer;” “Epistle 2. To A Lady,” and “An Epistle to Mr. Pope” (Norton 2595- 2607), “Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot” (Norton 2548-2559); excerpts from Essay on Man (Norton). Pope: Rape of the Lock (Norton 2513-2532) Pope: Rape of the Lock

Week 7 Intro to the novel Daniel Defoe: Roxana Defoe: Roxana

Week 8 Defoe: Roxana Defoe: Roxana Individual conferences to discuss second essay

Week 9 Samuel Richardson: Pamela Second paper due, 5pp, 15% Samuel Richardson: Pamela and the making of the modern woman (excerpts on myCourses) Richardson: Pamela : writing to the moment

Week 10 Henry Fielding: Shamela (myCourses) [P4: quills and ink] [P5: calendar reform] John Cleland: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (Fanny Hill ) [P6: artistic depictions of reading novels] Cleland, Fanny Hill (I’ll return second essay)

Week 11 Samuel Johnson: The Dictionary (myCourses) Samuel Johnson: Rambler essays (myCourses) No class: individual meetings to discuss research revision

Week 12 Johnson: Rambler No. 60 [Biography] (Norton 2746-2749) and Lives of the Poets : Pope (Norton 2774-2778) . Biography: James Boswell: Life of Johnson (Norton excerpts 2781-2810). Thomas Gray: “Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat” (Norton 2865-2870); Christopher Smart: “My Cat Jeoffry” from Jubilate Agno (Norton 2875- 2877) [P7: animal hoaxes, antiquarianism, the defecating duck] Second paper revision due, 8-10 pp, 25%

3 Week 13 Thomas Gray: “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard;” Sensibility readings (myCourses) Sensibility and social reform: Oliver Goldsmith: The Vicar of Wakefield [P8: breastfeeding practices] Goldsmith: The Vicar of Wakefield

Week 14 Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey [P9: the Gothic novel] Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey [P10: fashion] Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey [P11: Jane Austen re-writings, adaptations]

Final examination, 20%

Assessment: Close reading essay #1 (Rochester, Dryden, Etherege, Haywood): 12.5% Close reading essay #2 (Swift, Pope, Defoe): 12.5% Revision into a research essay: 25% 10-minute oral presentation: 15% Class participation: 15% Final examination 20%

All graded work must be submitted in hard copy. It is your responsibility to keep a back-up copy. Essays must be typed, double-spaced, in a 12-point font. Single-sided or double-sided is fine. Number the pages and staple them together. No cover pages, please. The page limits are firm, since part of the assignment is conveying an argument of appropriate scope. You must provide documentation if you require an extension on any paper, and you must keep in contact with me about your progress. Late assignments without documentation will drop a grade for each day they are late, e.g. a B grade will drop to a B-. My grading policies and expectations will be outlined. Any questions or clarifications are welcome.

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