Oakland University Course Information English 370--Literature of the Restoration and Eighteenth-Century
Fall 2006
M 6:30-9:50, 274 SFH
Department of English
Course Description: We'll spend the semester exploring the literature and culture of the period 1660-1789, with an emphasis upon comic drama and prose narrative. After a brief introduction to the ideas, politics, and mores of early modern England, we'll linger a while to explore what is arguably the high point in the history of English comedy (1660-1700) in the works of Wycherley, Behn, Gay, Heywood, and Sheridan. In prose fiction, we'll trace the rise of the English novel, along with other prose narratives, through the works Bunyan, Behn, Defoe, Swift, and Equiano. We’ll also pause occasionally to read representative verse by Behn, Rochester, Dryden, Swift, and Pope. Heavy reading. Class format will largely be discussion. Students will keep a reading journal and commonplace book, write one paper (7-9 pp.), complete an assignment on reading an issue of the Gentleman’s Magazine, and submit two tests.
Texts: The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: Volume 3: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century (Broadview); Moll Flanders, Defoe (Broadview); Pilgrim’s Progress, Bunyan (Penguin); Equiano, The Interesting Narrative . . . (Penguin). Please obtain copies of the editions listed above so that we will all be on the same page; some of these editions contain supplemental readings which will be required.
Policies: Faithful attendance and regular participation in class are expected.
Students with special needs are welcome to discuss them with me. Some services for students with special needs are available through the Office of Special Advising, 144 Oakland Center.
The grade of Incomplete is available only to students who have demonstrated regular and steady progress in the course but for whom unforeseeable and uncontrollable circumstances make impossible the timely completion of the course. Students must petition in writing for a grade of incomplete.
Students suspected of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Students and the Senate Committee on Academic Conduct. Cheating on any course assignment may result in failure for the course.
Classroom decorum is everybody’s responsibility. Please arrive on time and plan to stay for the full meeting. Turn your cell phone off for the duration of the class meeting. Work to create a classroom environment in which everybody feels comfortable and unthreatened. In addressing your classmates (or your instructor), in class or on the discussion list, you may argue vigorously, indeed passionately, but please maintain the same respect for others as you wish them to maintain toward you.
Some related links:
Other useful links are lurking in the reading list below.
Assignments: The following simple formula will determine your final grade.
Schedule: If class is canceled due to snow, tornado, professorial delinquency, or other uncontrollable events, please continue to read according
to the dates below. Unless we grow very weary very fast, we will adhere roughly to the following schedule:
The Comedy of the Restoration
September
M 11 Orientation: When was the Restoration and the eighteenth century? Matters logistical, informational, and otherwise. Multimedia extravaganza. The History Channel.
M 18 “Introduction to the Restoration and the Eighteenth Century” Anthology xxix-xxx.
“Religion, Government, and Party Politics” Anthology xxx-xxxiii
“Empiricism, Skepticism, and Religious Dissent” Anthology xxxiii-xxxvi
“The Theatre” Anthology liii-lvi
John Wilmot, Third Earl of Rochester, A Satyr against Reason and Mankind, Anthology 233-235; “The Imperfect Enjoyment,” Anthology 240-241 (Warning: Strong language; sexual content)
Aphra Behn, “The Disappointment,” Anthology 140-142 (Warning: Figurative language; sexual content)
William Wycherley, The Country Wife, Anthology 179-230
Hobbes, "Of the Natural Condition of Mankind as Concerning their Felicity and Misery”, Chapter 13 of Leviathan.
M 25 Behn, The Feign’d Courtesans, Anthology website
Mary Astell, from A Serious Proposal to the Ladies and Reflections on Marriage, Anthology 290-301
Journals and commonplace books will be collected.
Some Aphra Behn links:
October
M 2 Eliza Haywood, Fantomina: or Love in a Maze, Anthology 513-529
Jeremy Collier, from A Short View of the English Stage, Anthology 537-538
The Licensing Act of 1737, Anthology 540-541
M 9 Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, Anthology 753-798
17th- & 18th-Century Prose and Verse Narratives
M 16 “The Novel,” Anthology lvi-lxii
Behn, “The Golden Age,”
Behn, Oroonoko, Anthology 144-178
John Dryden, Religio Laici
Defoe, from An Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions, in MF 383-386
Sharrock, “Introduction” to Pilgrim’s Progress, vii-xxii
John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, 3-66
Summary information about theories of the origins of the English novel may be found at the following links:
M 23 Isaac Watts “Against Idleness and Mischief” and “”Man Frail, and God Eternal,” Anthology 133-134
Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, finish
David Hume, from “Of Miracles,” Anthology 134.
Journals and commonplace books will be collected.
M 30 “Moll Cutpurse,” from The Newgate Calendar
Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, 35-275
Defoe, from Conjugal Lewdness, in MF 377-383
Gentleman’s Magazine assignment is due.
November
M 6 Samuel Johnson, Rambler No. 4, “On Fiction,” Anthology 565-568
Johnson, Rambler No. 155, “On Becoming Acquainted with our Real Characters,” Anthology 573-576
Moll Flanders, finis
John Gay, The Beggar’s Opera, Anthology website
Term paper proposal and bibliography are due.
M 13 Alexander Pope, from An Essay on Man, Anthology 463-472.
Jonathan Swift, “A Description of a City Shower,” and “The Lady’s Dressing Room,” Anthology 304 and 307-308.
Swift, from Gulliver’s Travels, Anthology 317-413.
Swift, A Modest Proposal, 417-422
Journals and commonplace books will be collected.
Term paper review of literature is due.
M 20 Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock, Anthology 443-456
Draft of term paper is due.
M 27 Olaudau Equiano, The Interesting Narrative &c, chs. 1-10
Journals and commonplace books will be collected.
December
M 4 Equiano, Narrative, finis
Some poems:
Johnson, The Vanity of Human Wishes, Anthology 560-565
Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, Anthology 678-684
William Cowper, “The Castaway,” Anthology 691-692
Edmund Burke, from The Sublime, Anthology 733-734
Find a passage in a poem that you think is sublime; bring it in to class.
Term paper is due.
M 11 7:00 – 9:00 PM. Test 2 is due.
T 12 and afterward: Have happy, civil, sociable, honorable, and virtuous lives!
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