ENGL 6105 1
English 6105, Studies in British Literature 1
Eighteenth-Century Fiction and the Past and Future of Print
Dr. Laura Miller, lmiller@westga.edu, x94891
Tue: 5:30-8, TLC 1204. My Office: TLC 2238
Office Hours: TuTh 8:45A-10:45A; W 8:45AM-12:15PM, and by appointment
Description: This class will explore two exciting topics: eighteenth-century studies and print history. The
eighteenth century, which saw the development of the novel as well as the emergence of a large market for fiction
readership, is an exceptionally rich period for analyzing the histories of print and reading. Print history, in turn,
helps scholars to understand eighteenth-century media culture within its own context, and directs our attention to
the future of books and print in contemporary culture. In this class, we will read well-known novels, some lesserknown novels that were popular in their day, and shorter printed works like broadside ballads and poems. Several
“case histories” will explore some crucial topics in eighteenth-century print history more deeply, including the
mysterious posthumous attribution of two novels to writer Daniel Defoe, the collecting practices of diarist Samuel
Pepys, and the popularity of British fiction in colonial America.
To some extent, this is an update of the traditional English graduate course that would detail “the rise of the
novel” in the eighteenth century. We will of course explore the novel’s history during the course, but I am
organizing it differently for two reasons: one is that the novel doesn’t have as simple a trajectory as previously
assumed; and two, the theoretical approach—that of print/media history—allows for a point of entry into the class
for students with diverse theoretical and historical interests. We all read printed and electronic texts. Book history
and book “futurity” will be integral to the discipline of English studies for many years to come. Assignments will
include a scholarly presentation and accompanying short paper, a pedagogy presentation, an abstract, and a final
research paper.
Texts to buy and read
Note: PLEASE buy the edition of Clarissa that is specified, and buy the Parmée translation of the Liaisons
Dangereuses so that we all have access to the same text. There are two works we are reading in translation from
ENGL 6105 2
the French; if your French is good, feel free to buy them and read them in that language. Electronic editions of
other works will be fine if that is what you prefer, as long as you are able to bring an e-reader to class. Make sure
you buy the right edition of the Routledge reader.
Eds Finkelstein and
Mcleery
Lennox, Charlotte
Routledge Book History Reader,
Second Edition
The Female Quixote
Richardson, Samuel
Clarissa (Abridged, Broadview
Edition)
Les Liaisons Dangereuses
978-1551114750
Paper Knowledge: Toward a
Media History of Documents
Book Was There: Reading in
Electronic Times
Distant Reading
Roxana
978-0822356578
Oxford World’s
Classics
Duke UP
978-0226103488
U of Chicago P
978-1781680841
9781551118079
Verso
Broadview
Laclos, Choderlos,
Trans. Parmée
Gitelman, Lisa
Piper, Andrew
Moretti, Franco
Defoe, Daniel
978-0415359481
978-0199540242
978-0199536481
Routledge
Oxford World’s
Classics
Broadview
Requirements and percentages.
Scholarly article presentation (5 pages/10 minutes), 20%
For this presentation you will read your own 5-page paper that responds to a critical article about the text we are
discussing that day in class, or an article of your choice from the Book History Reader. We will then discuss the
issues you have raised in addition to our usual class discussion. Your paper should summarize the argument of the
article in a short paragraph, then evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the article based on your reading of the
primary text (or, if we are not reading a fictional work for that day, you may choose any eighteenth-century work
of interest). You must confirm your choice of scholarly article (or book chapter) with me at least one week before
our class meeting.
Pedagogy presentation, 10%. For this 15-minute presentation, you will discuss how you would teach some
aspect of eighteenth-century literature to the grade level of your choice. Topics will vary according to the age of
students targeted.
250-word research proposal, 5%
20-page scholarly final paper citing at least 10 scholarly sources. 65%
Class Expectations
You are required to read and prepare for each session of this class. You should read actively, making notes as you
read and jotting down questions you bring in to our seminar for discussion. Each person in this class is expected
to contribute to our discussions. Ask questions! Be engaged!
Note: This class meets during the dinner hour for most of us. I am fine if you bring something to eat provided that
it is not overly distracting to eat or overly “fragrant.”
Attendance
This class meets once a week. You may miss a maximum of one class, which you should let me know about in
advance.
Jan 6 Introduction and Critical Context 1: Eighteenth-Century Studies and Print History
Book History Reader: Darnton, ch. 2., Chartier, Ch. 8, Bourdieu, Ch. 9.
Jan 13 Case History 1: Who wrote Roxana and Moll Flanders? New developments in Defoe’s attribution.
Defoe, Roxana
Mark Vareschi “Attribution and Repetition: The Case of Defoe and the Circulating Library” Eighteenth-Century
ENGL 6105 3
Life, 36.2 Spring 2012.
Ashley Marshall “Fabricating Defoes: From Anonymous Hack to Master of Fictions” Eighteenth-Century Life,
36.2 Spring 2012. (both Marshall and Vareschi are available online through Project Muse)
Jan 20 Critical Context 2: This class will meet online because Dr. Miller is at a library history conference in
London. Read Eisenstein, Johns, Barthes, Foucault, Iser from Book History Reader.
Jan 27 Feb 3 Feb 10 Feb 17 Marriage in Print
Richardson, Clarissa, abridged (also Brewer, Price (BHR))
Fielding, “The Female Husband,” (online)
Charlotte Lennox, The Female Quixote
Feb 24 Critical Context 3: Moretti, Distant Reading
March 3 Case History 2: How do we engage meaningfully with the “slaughterhouse of literature”? Working
with the English Broadside Ballad Archive. Read and/or listen to the following broadside ballads from the
archive:
o “The woful lamentation of mistris Jane Shore” (search for #20229)
o “The Wandering Jew’s Chronicle” (20226)
o “Dead and Alive” (21782)
o “The Lady and the Black-a-moor” (20261)
o “The Lamentation of Mistris Page” (20054)
o “Anne Wallens Lamentation” (20053)
o “The judgment of God shewed upon one John Faustus” (20760)
o “The crafty lass of the West” (21674)
o “The Gelding of the Devil” (22015)
March 10 and March 24 Les Moeurs et les Lettres*
Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard”
Rousseau, La Nouvelle Heloise (selections TBA)
Laclos, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
*March 17 Spring Break, no class meeting. Dr. Miller is at ASECS.
March 31 250-WORD RESEARCH PROPOSALS DUE IN CLASS. CLASS STARTS AT 6PM
Critical Context 4: What is the future of books? How do books fit in with our analysis of other documents?
Gitelman, Paper Knowledge: Toward a Media History of Documents, Piper, Book Was There. Read both books’
intros and two sample chapters of your choice from each. More if you’d like.
April 7 Case History 3: What can we learn as scholars from records of reading? Popular British Women’s
Fiction at the New York Society Library, 1789-1792.
Browse the NYSL’s borrowing records from 1789-1792 (online)
Read Female Stability or Honoria Somerville (available on ECCO)
From BHR: Monaghan, “Literacy Instruction and Gender in Colonial New England” McHenry, “Forgotten
Readers” Radway, “A Feeling for Books”
April 14: Work on final essays. Bring paper drafts and sources. I will help with sources, writing, and questions.
There will be evals and possible merriment.
April 21 Final class meeting (5-7:30 PM): turn in (and share selections from) final papers. Merriment also
possible.