English 260A
British Literature through the 18th century
TTh 12:30-1:45, AH 3177
Spring 2015
Catherine Guthrie
Office: Arts and Letters 274
Office hrs: TTh 11-12 and by apt.
E-mail: guthrie@mail.sdsu.edu
Course Description:
This course is a survey of significant British literary texts from the medieval period
through the 18th century. Readings will include a variety of genres including poetry,
essays, drama, epistles, travel writing, and fiction read in their historical and
cultural contexts. The course will require active participation, a short paper, an
exam, quizzes, a reading journal and a research paper due at the end of the
semester.
Course Objectives:
In keeping with the mission of the SDSU Department of English and Comparative
Literature, the aim of this course is to
--place texts within historical and cultural contexts, identifying historical periods
and features of major movements in literature
--understand and evaluate major concerns of literary and cultural expression across
genre and media
--consider the value of aesthetic expression in human culture
--incorporate primary and relevant secondary sources into written work
--adhere to Modern Language Association standards for research writing and
documentation
Required Texts:
Stephen Greenblatt, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (Oxford)
William Beckford, Dreams, Waking Thoughts, and Incidents; in a Series of Letters from
Various Parts of Europe (Dodo Press)
Aphra Behn, The Rover (Broadview)
Marie de France, The Lais of Marie de France (Penguin)
Course Evaluation and Grades:
Reading Journal: 15%
Exam: 15%
Short paper: 20%
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Research paper: 30%
Quizzes/Group activities: 10%
Participation: 10%
The following scale will be used:
93-100%
90-92%
88-89%
83-87%
80-82%
78-79%
73-77%
70-72%
68-69%
63-67%
60-62%
0-59%
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
Class Attendance:
Prompt attendance and active, informed participation in all class meetings is
required. If more than four classes are missed, students will receive a “0” for
attendance and participation. More than nine classes missed will result in a failing
grade for the course. Arriving more than ten minutes late or leaving early will also
be counted as an absence.
In the case of an absence, please be aware of any missed assignments or schedule
changes. It’s a good idea to exchange your email address with a classmate.
Note: If you stop attending class, it is your responsibility to officially withdraw
before the drop deadline. Failure to do so will result in your remaining on the class
roster and receiving an “F” or “WU” (unauthorized withdrawal) for the course.
Class Participation:
You are expected to complete all readings and assignments in advance of the date
scheduled/due, to respond to the texts and assignments carefully, and to contribute
to class discussions daily, which includes bringing questions you have about the
reading or your writing to our attention in class discussions.
Quizzes:
You may expect a short quiz once a week on the readings and lectures. Quizzes will
test your reading comprehension on the literature assigned for that particular class
period or the previous class period as well as the lecture material. Quizzes will be
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given at the beginning of the period. Those who arrive after the quiz has been
collected will not be permitted to take the quiz.
Group Activities:
Periodically, you will be asked to work in small groups in response to a list of
discussion questions, which will be emailed to you as well as posted on Blackboard.
Each group will receive points for participation.
Short Paper:
There will be a short paper of 3-4 pages due a mid-term. Guidelines for this
assignment will be posted on Blackboard at least a week before the due date.
Exam:
Later in the semester, there will be one exam consisting of essay and identification.
I will give you the essay question prior to the exam date.
Reading Journal:
The reading journal will focus on Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. I ask that you write
2 pages (typed, double-spaced) per week for the 3 weeks that we spend on the
novel. You can write about your experience of reading the novel; you can speculate
about what will happen; you can consider how gender and social codes in the novel
compare with today; you can trace a certain theme; or you can review (for one
entry) one of both of the partial film versions that I will show in class. The entries
can be informal, but they should have a clear focus and should demonstrate critical
thinking.
Final Essay:
Your final assignment will be to write an original 6-8 page literary critical research
paper on one or two of the primary texts assigned for the course. Your paper should
present an argument that includes two secondary sources (peer-reviewed articles
or books). You can use this critical material in support of your argument or you can
argue against it, but do not simply reiterate someone else’s argument in your paper.
Use the MLA International Bibliography, Project Muse and/or JSTOR to find these
sources. You must also include a works cited page that follows the MLA
bibliographical format. Refer either to the MLA Handbook or go to
owl.english.purdue.edu (MLA Formatting and Style Guide).
Typed proposals for the research paper will be due 4/21. I will meet with you
individually towards the end of the semester to discuss your idea for the paper and
to critique a partial draft of your work.
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Your paper will be graded on the originality of your ideas and the strength of your
thesis, close textual analysis, how well you incorporate secondary materials and the
appropriateness of those materials for your argument, organization and coherence,
and grammar/mechanics.
For Students with Disabilities:
If you are a student with a disability and believe you will need accommodations for
this class, it is your responsibility to contact Student Disability Services at (619)
594-6473. To avoid any delay in the receipt of your accommodations, you should
contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. Please note that
accommodations are not retroactive, and that accommodations based upon
disability cannot be provided until you have presented your instructor with an
accommodation letter from Student Disability Services.
Note about Academic Integrity:
Plagiarism or other violations of academic integrity are forbidden by SDSU in
general and by this course in particular. Students who present the work of others,
which includes but is not limited to borrowing another student’s work buying a
paper, or using the thoughts or ideas of others as their own (using information in a
paper without citation), commit plagiarism. Students will be held accountable for
plagiarized material whether the material was plagiarized intentionally or not.
Plagiarized work will result in a failing grade for the assignment and possibly for the
course.
Schedule of Readings and Assignments (Subject to Adjustment)
Week One
Th 1/22
Introduction to the Course: Syllabus and Policies; Marie de
France, “Prologue,” “Guigemar,” “Bisclavret,” “Chevrefoil”
Week Two
T 1/27
Marie de France, “Lanval,” “Laustic,” “Eliduc,”; “Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight” (Norton, pp. 186-238)
Th 1/29
Chaucer, “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale” (Norton, pp.
282-310)
Week Three
T 2/3
Marlowe, Dr. Faustus (Norton, pp. 1127-1163); Shakespeare,
sonnets: 20, 127, 130, 144 (Norton, pp. 1254-1339)
4
Th 2/5
Shakespeare, King Lear (Act I) (Norton, pp. 1254-1339)
Week Four
T 2/10
Shakespeare, King Lear (Acts 2 & 3)
Th 2/12
Shakespeare, King Lear (Acts 4 & 5)
Week Five
T 2/17
Short paper due; Donne, from Songs and Sonnets: “The GoodMorrow” (Norton, pp. 1373-74); “The Flea” (p. 1373); “The
Relic” (pp. 1390-91); Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress” (Norton,
pp. 1796-97)
Th 2/19
Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (Norton, pp. 1572-1647; Acts 13)
Week Six
T 2/24
Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (Acts 4 & 5)
Th 2/26
Behn, The Rover
Week Seven
T 3/3
Behn, The Rover; Swift, “The Lady’s Dressing Room,” (Norton
pp. 2767-70); “A Modest Proposal,” (Norton, pp. 2633-39)
Th 3/5
Pope, “The Rape of the Lock” (Norton, pp. 2686-2704);
Haywood, Fantomina; or Love in a Maze (Norton, pp. 27402758)
Week Eight
T 3/10
Johnson, Rambler #4 [On Fiction] (Norton, pp. 2923-2926)
Th 3/12
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, selected letters (handout)
Week Nine
T 3/17
Beckford, Dreams
Th 3/19
Beckford, Dreams
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Week Ten
T 3/24
Beckford Dreams
Th 3/26
Exam
March 30-April 3
Spring Break Week
Week Eleven
T 4/7
Austen, Sense and Sensibility
Th 4/9
Austen, Sense and Sensibility
Week Twelve
T 4/14
Austen, Sense and Sensibility
Th 4/16
Austen, Sense and Sensibility
Week Thirteen
T 4/21
Austen, Sense and Sensibility; proposals for research paper
due
Th 4/23
Austen, Sense and Sensibility
Week Fourteen
T 4/28
Austen, Sense and Sensibility
Th 4/30
Austen, Sense and Sensibility; reading journals due
Week Fifteen
T 5/5
Individual meetings to discuss research paper (in AL 274)
Th 5/7
Meetings
T 5/12
Papers due by noon in AL 274
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