PS Charles Lamb, Essayist
TU Chemnitz
Anglistische Literaturwissenschaft
Dr. Marie-Luise Egbert
Date
Topics/Activities
29 Oct
Preliminaries
WS 2002/03
Essay
Team
5 Nov
"Popular Fallacies: That We Should Lie Down with the Lamb"
A Brief Biography of Charles Lamb; "Mackery End, in Hertfordshire";
A
The Essay as Genre and Mode
(Freiburg 2001)
12 Nov
Analysis/Discussion
19 Nov
A Short History of the Essay
in English
26 Dec
Analysis/Discussion
3 Dec
19th-Century Britain:
Society, Politics, Culture
10 Dec
Analysis/Discussion
17 Dec
Elia and Other Fictional Personae
in Literature
7 Jan
Analysis/Discussion
14 Jan
Serialized Literature: Journals and
Periodicals in 19th-Century Britain
21 Jan
Analysis/Discussion
28 Jan
Lamb's Contemporaries:
William Hazlitt; Leigh Hunt
4 Feb
Analysis/Discussion
"The South-Sea House";
"Popular Fallacies: That Handsome
is That Handsome Does"
"Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty
Years Ago"
A
"A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig";
"Popular Fallacies: That We Must
Not Look a Gift Horse in the
Mouth"
"Detached Thoughts on Books and
Reading"
B
"Oxford in the Vacation"; "Popular
Fallacies: That Home Is Home
Though It Is Never So Homely"
"Preface to the Last Essays of Elia"
C
"The Old Benchers of the Inner
Temple"; "Popular Fallacies: That
Ill-Gotten Gain Never Prospers"
"Newspapers Thirty-Five Years
Ago"
D
"The Genteel Style in Writing";
"Popular Fallacies: That the Poor
Copy the Vices of the Rich"
"My First Play"
E
"A Chapter on Ears"; "Valentine's
Day"
F
B
C
D
E
F
Egbert 1
Term Papers
Select two of Lamb's essays not discussed in class and prepare a formal and thematic analysis
of each. Choose the essays with a view to parallels or contrasts between them to which you
can draw attention in your paper (by way of comparison).
Suggested Structure:
1.
2.
2.1
2.2
2.3
3.
3.1
3.2
3.3
4.
5.
6.
Introduction
Essay I
Brief summary (not exceeding half a page)
Analysis of theme
Analysis of structure and formal features
Essay II
Brief summary (not exceeding half a page)
Analysis of theme
Analysis of structure and formal features
Comparison of Essay I with Essay II
Conclusion
Works Cited
N.B.
 You can also compare an essay by Lamb with one by Leigh Hunt or William Hazlitt
(preferably on a similar topic).
 Do not provide a separate chapter on Lamb's life! Details of his life may be included where
appropriate, though.
 Make use of the MLA bibliography to research literature.
 If the books and articles you have researched are not available in the university library,
order them through the interlibrary loan system as soon as possible or use other libraries
(e.g. Leipzig, Dresden).
 Take care to observe the guidelines provided in the stylesheet of the Wegweiser (chapter 7).
Please note that these conventions also apply if you use internet sources (see chapter 5 of
the stylesheet). Term papers which do not follow those guidelines willnot be accepted.
Deadlines
For students taking the intermediary exam in February/March 2003: 10 December 2002.
For other students: 3 March 2003.
Egbert 2