Syllabus for English 323:
Studies in Eighteenth-Century
British Literature
Fall 2007

Course introduction and outline.

• Daniel Defoe, from A Tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain, Divided into Circuits or Journeys (1724-27): Author's Preface, City of London, Introduction to Scotland, The North of Scotland

  • The Dictionary of Literary Biography on Defoe as a prose writer

  • The early twentieth-century Cambridge History of English and American Literature on Defoe

Group 1 response: Write your response based on a moment in the text where Defoe seems to reveal something about his framing of the facts on the ground, as we might call them. How do these moments contribute to our sense of what Defoe is up to in the Tour? This will be a response workshop day.

Note: here and throughout this syllabus, the first (less indented) list of readings is required, while the second (more indented) list of readings is supplemental and optional. Here, for example, the readings by Defoe are required, whereas the ones about him are optional.

• Bernard Mandeville, "The Grumbling Hive" (1705)

• Edward Hundert, "Mandeville, Rousseau, and the Political Economy of Fantasy"
  • The Dictionary of Literary Biography on Mandeville

Group 2 response: Write a response from the starting point of a moment in which Mandeville's text gives you a sense of the another position in an implied debate: how does Mandeville let you know about his opposition and thereby how he responds? This will be a response workshop day.

• Samuel Richardson, Pamela; Or, Virtue Rewarded (1740), pages 3-82
  • The Dictionary of Literary Biography on Richardson

  • Illustration History of Pamela, a site by Michigan doctoral students Lori Errico-Seaman and Olivera Jokic

Group 3 response: Write this response based on a passage that introduces a specific, unexpected image or metaphor that you think will remain important in the novel.

• Richardson, Pamela, 82-182

Group 4 response: Use this response to discuss a surprise you found in this second section. What do you see here that you did not expect from Richardson after our last discussion? This will be a response workshop day.

• Richardson, Pamela, 182-299

Group 1 response: open response

• Richardson, Pamela, 300-415

Group 2 response: open response

• Richardson, Pamela, 415-503

Group 3 response: open response

• Catherine Ingrassia, "'I Am Become a Mere Usurer': Pamela and Domestic Stock-Jobbing"

• Terry J. Castle, "P/B: Pamela as Sexual Fiction"

Group 4 response: open response

• Tobias Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, 1-64
  • The Dictionary of Literary Biography on Smollett

Group 1 response: open response

• Tobias Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, 64-133

Group 2 response: open response

• Tobias Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, 134-201

Group 3 response: open response

• Tobias Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, 202-275

Group 4 response: open response

• Tobias Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, 275-353

Group 1 response: open response

• Michael McKeon, "Aestheticising the Critique of Luxury: Smollett’s Humphry Clinker"

• Evan Gottlieb, "'Fools of Prejudice': Sympathy and National Identity in the Scottish Englightenment and Humphry Clinker"

Group 2 response: Find a point of intersection between these articles and use it as the basis of your response. That intersection can be one of agreement, disagreement, or a revealing difference in the two scholars' approaches.

SHORTER PAPER DUE UNDER MY OFFICE DOOR
BY 3:00 P.M.

FALL BREAK

• David Hume, Parts III and IV of Book One: Of the Understanding from A Treatise of Human Nature: Being An Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning Into Moral Subjects.
  • The Dictionary of Literary Biography on Hume as prose writer and philosopher

  • The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Hume

Group 3 response: Use this response to make a specific connection between something Hume argues and a feature of one of the earlier, imaginative texts we have read together.

• Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1-32, 138-197
  • A fascinating talk by Hans Rosling that provides a glimpse of Enlightenment conjectural history's transformation into contemporary studies of global development

  • The Dictionary of Literary Biography on Smith as prose writer and philosopher

Group 4 response: Use this response to help us discuss Smith in the context of a literary seminar. You can do that in one of two ways, either by pointing to Smith's use of a literary device to make his argument or by connecting one of Smith's arguments to something we have seen in a literary text.

Library day! Get started on the (relatively long) Johnson reading.

• Samuel Johnson, A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
  • The best starting point for Johnson studies on the Internet is Jack Lynch's page

  • The Dictionary of Literary Biography on Johnson as prose writer

Group 1 response: Use a specific passage from Johnson as the starting point for a comparison between this travel narrative and Defoe's.

PAPER PROSPECTUS DUE BY 5:00

• James Boswell, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D., 155-254

• We will also spend some class time discussing annotated bibliographies today.
  • The Dictionary of Literary Biography on Boswell as prose writer

Group 2 response: open response

• Maria Edgeworth, Castle Rackrent, Marilyn Butler's Introduction and first part, 1-84
  • The Dictionary of Literary Biography on Edgeworth as novelist

Group 3 response: open response

We will also spend some class time doing a workshop of bibliography annotations using examples that I will bring.

• Edgeworth, Castle Rackrent, 85-138

Group 4 response: open response

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE UNDER MY OFFICE DOOR BY NOON

• Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 5-59

• Viviana Zelizer, "Coupling" from The Purchase of Intimacy
  • For better or worse, there's nothing else quite like The Republic of Pemberley. It explains itself.

  • The Dictionary of Literary Biography on Austen as novelist

Group 1 response: open response

• Austen, Mansfield Park, 60-145

Group 2 response: open response

• Austen, Mansfield Park, 146-250

Group 3 response: open response

• Austen, Mansfield Park, 251-338

Group 4 response: open response

PROGRESS REPORT DUE TODAY BY EMAIL

• Austen, Mansfield Park, 339-439

Group 1 response: open response

Last day: wrapping up, composing class cheers and slogans for the big finals parade.

FINAL PAPER DUE BY NOON