Carleton University 2010-2011 Department of English ENGL 3502E BRITISH LITERATURE II British Literature from 1700 to WW I Prerequisite: ENGL 2300 Class times: Mondays & Wednesdays 2:35 pm – 3:55 pm Location: Please confirm fall and winter term locations on Carleton Central Instructor: Dr. J.H.C. Reid Office Hours: Mondays, 1:00 – 2:00 Office: 1915 Dunton Tower Phone: 520-2600 ext. 2318 email:
[email protected] Do feel free to phone at any time as there is voice mail in the office. Course description This course introduces students to texts by British authors from 1700 to WW I, and is designed to communicate a sense of the chronological development of English literature in Britain as well as of the dynamic cultural contexts this literature engages. In order better to appreciate the cultural importance of the texts we study, we will strive to situate them in relation to their literary and historical backgrounds and to appreciate the ways in which these texts shaped, were shaped by, and commented on, the issues of their day. In addition to engaging with extended pieces of poetry and prose by writers such as Pope, Swift, Fielding, Defoe, Dickens, Austen, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Tennyson, iter alia, we will study shorter works by a variety of authors in order to show how literary genres are constructed by communities of men and women writing with shared and competing interests and motives. One of the focal questions underlying our reading will be: How does an historical understanding of British culture enhance and enrich our reading of English literature from different historical periods? We will also consider the portraits of heroism, gender, love, lust, violence, religion, art, authorship, and Englishness presented in these texts, and study the ways in which different writers handled such topics.