ENGLISH 313 Eighteenth-Century British Literature
Spring 2012 Syllabus
Mon/Wed/Fri 10:30-11:20 a.m. in Newton 212
Gillian Paku, paku@geneseo.edu
Office: Welles 218c, tel. 245 5272
Office hours: M/W/F 12:30-1:20 and 2:30-4:00p.m. Other times are available by
arrangement. Please make an appointment even within my regularly scheduled hours
to avoid double-booking.
Course Description:
A survey of an exuberant period in English literary and social history from John
Dryden to Jane Austen, in which the alternating rhythms of containment, pressure,
and explosion give us racy Restoration drama and the pointed comedy of manners,
hilarious and sometimes savage satire, and the emergent realist novel alongside
effusions of melodrama, mystery, and sentimentality. We trace also the rise of the
periodical newspaper, the biography, and the life of the artist. We examine how these
literary forms shape and reflect an idea of government, nationhood and empire, we
follow travels around the world, around town, and around the self, and we pay
attention to literature by women, literature about women, and literature by women
about women who read literature.
SUNY Geneseo will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented
physical, emotional, or learning disabilities. Students should notify the Director in the
Office of Disability Services (Tabitha Buggie-Hunt, 105D Erwin,
tbuggieh@geneseo.edu) and their individual faculty of any needed accommodations as
early as possible in the semester.
You should familiarize yourself with the resources available to you at The Writing
Center.
Learning Outcomes:
~ students will demonstrate the ability to read literary texts closely
~ students will demonstrate the ability to write logical analysis of literary texts in an
appropriately academic register
~ students will demonstrate literary research skills
~ students will understand the nature and limitations of contextualizing texts historically
~ students will understand the interplay of genres and literary movements across a
significant period of time
~ students will demonstrate the ability to work as a team to produce oral presentations
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Required Texts:
~ The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume C: The Restoration and the
Eighteenth Century ed. Stephen Greenblatt, M. H. Abrams, Lawrence Lipking, and
James Noggle (page numbers follow 8th edition; 7th edition is fine)
~ Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon (Oxford World's
Classics) ed. James Kinsley, John Davie, and Claudia L. Johnson
~ John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (Fanny Hill) (Oxford World’s
Classics) ed. Peter Sabor
~ Daniel Defoe, Roxana (Oxford World's Classics) ed. John Mullan
~ George Etherege, The Man of Mode (New Mermaids) ed. John Barnard
~ Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield (Oxford World's Classics) ed. Arthur
Friedman and Robert L. Mack
Schedule of Classes:
Wed 01/18
Introduction, syllabus – schedule of presentations. Handout from
Alexander Pope’s Dunciad
Fri 01/20
Historical outline. John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester: “The
Imperfect Enjoyment” (Norton 2169-2171); Aphra Behn “The
Disappointment” (Norton)
Mon 01/23
Wed 01/25
Fri 01/27
Rochester: “To the Post Boy,” “An Allusion to Horace,” “A Song: Absent
from Thee I Languish Still” (myCourses). Schedule of presentations.
John Dryden: Mac Flecknoe (Norton 2111-2117)
Dryden: Mac Flecknoe [P1: Hubbub]
Mon 01/30
Wed 02/01
Fri 02/03
George Etherege: Man of Mode
Etherege: Man of Mode [P2: clothing (or with Fantomina)]
In-class essay exercise: Dryden’s Song from Marriage à la Mode
Mon 02/06
Wed 02/08
Fri 02/10
Discuss essays [P3: cuisine (cheese)]
Eliza Haywood, Fantomina (myCourses)
Haywood, Fantomina
Mon 02/13
Jonathan Swift: A Modest Proposal (Norton 2462-2468)
First paper due, 5pp, 15%
Swift: Stella, Description of the Morning and City Shower, Cassinus and
Peter (Norton 2303 and myCourses)
Swift: Gulliver’s Travels, Voyage 2 (Brobdingnag) (Norton 2365-2405)
Wed 02/15
Fri 02/17
Mon 02/20
Wed 02/22
Alexander Pope: “Impromptu to Lady Winchelsea” and “The Answer;”
“Epistle 2. To A Lady,” and “An Epistle to Mr. Pope” (Norton 25952607), “Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot” (Norton 2548-2559); excerpts from
Essay on Man (Norton).
Pope: Rape of the Lock (Norton 2513-2532)
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Fri 02/24
Pope: Rape of the Lock
Mon 02/27
Wed 02/29
Fri 03/02
Intro to the novel
Daniel Defoe: Roxana
Sigma Tau Delta conference: no class
Mon 03/05
Wed 03/07
Fri 03/09
Defoe: Roxana
Defoe: Roxana
Individual conferences to discuss second essay
Mon 03/12
Wed 03/14; Fri 03/16 No class: Spring Break
Mon 03/19
No class: Graff and Birkenstein visit
Second paper due, 5pp, 15%
Samuel Richardson: Pamela and the making of the modern woman
(excerpts on myCourses)
Richardson: Pamela: writing to the moment
Wed 03/21
Fri 03/23
Mon 03/26
Fri 03/30
Henry Fielding: Shamela (myCourses) [P4: quills and ink] [P5: calendar
reform]
John Cleland: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (Fanny Hill) [P6: artistic
depictions of reading novels]
Cleland, Fanny Hill (I’ll return second essay)
Mon 04/02
Wed 04/04
Fri 04/06
Samuel Johnson: The Dictionary (myCourses)
Samuel Johnson: Rambler essays (myCourses)
No class: individual meetings to discuss research revision
Mon 04/09
Johnson: Rambler No. 60 [Biography] (Norton 2746-2749) and Lives of
the Poets: Pope (Norton 2774-2778).
Biography: James Boswell: Life of Johnson (Norton excerpts 2781-2810).
Thomas Gray: “Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat” (Norton 2865-2870);
Christopher Smart: “My Cat Jeoffry” from Jubilate Agno (Norton 28752877) [P7: animal hoaxes, antiquarianism, the defecating duck]
Second paper revision due, 8-10 pp, 25%
Wed 03/28
Wed 04/11
Fri 04/13
Mon 04/16
Wed 04/18
Fri 04/20
Mon 04/23
Wed 04/25
Fri 04/27
Thomas Gray: “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard;” Sensibility
readings (myCourses)
Sensibility and social reform: Oliver Goldsmith: The Vicar of Wakefield
[P8: breastfeeding practices]
Goldsmith: The Vicar of Wakefield
Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey [P9: the Gothic novel]
Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey [P10: fashion]
Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey [P11: Jane Austen re-writings,
adaptations]
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Mon 04/30
Eighteenth-Century British views of America: Samuel Johnson [P12:
views on native Americans]
Final examination, 20%
Tuesday, May 11, 2010, from 8:00-11:00 a.m. in Newton 212
Assessment:
Close reading essay #1 (Rochester, Dryden, Etherege, Haywood):
Close reading essay #2 (Swift, Pope, Defoe):
Revision into a research essay:
10-minute oral presentation:
Class participation:
Final examination
12.5%
12.5%
25%
15%
15%
20%
All graded work must be submitted in hard copy. It is your responsibility to keep
a back-up copy. Essays must be typed, double-spaced, in a 12-point font. Single-sided or
double-sided is fine. Number the pages and staple them together. No cover pages, please.
The page limits are firm, since part of the assignment is conveying an argument of
appropriate scope.
You must provide documentation if you require an extension on any paper, and
you must keep in contact with me about your progress. Late assignments without
documentation will drop a grade for each day they are late, e.g. a B grade will drop to a
B-. My grading policies and expectations will be outlined. Any questions or clarifications
are welcome.
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