Syllabus for English 337:
Romance and Revolution:
The Novel and the Nation (Spring 2024)

• ChatGPT (and Its Relatives) and College Writing: A Quick Guide for Students (PDF)

First day: class overview and Special Collections conversation about objects from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Quick first assignments by the end of today: 1) Put a paragraph of self-introduction in the "Self-Introductions" Document in our OneDrive Folder, and 2) As the first entry in your Blog of Interest, describe one thing you'd like to work on in your writing for this class.

• Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, introduction and 1-64

Blogs of Interest, version A: Group 1 does full blog posts, and Group 2 does quotations-only posts.

• Smollett, Humphry Clinker, 64-152

Blogs of Interest, version B: Group 2 does full blog posts, and Group 1 does quotations-only posts.

• Smollett, Humphry Clinker, 153-257

Blogs of Interest, version A: Group 1 does full blog posts, and Group 2 does quotations-only posts.

• Smollett, Humphry Clinker, 257-353 (end)

Blogs of Interest, version B: Group 2 does full blog posts, and Group 1 does quotations-only posts.

• Charlotte Sussman, "Lismahago's Captivity: Transculturation in Humphry Clinker" (PWeb Documents)

Blogs of Interest, version A: Group 1 does full blog posts, and Group 2 does quotations-only posts.

• Collection of responses to the French Revolution (PWeb Documents): Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, Mary Wollstonecraft, Helen Maria Williams

Blogs of Interest, version B: Group 2 does full blog posts, and Group 1 does quotations-only posts.

• Anthology of readings on the Atlantic slave trade (Pweb Documents)
• Olaudah Equiano, from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (PWeb Documents)

Blogs of Interest, version A: Group 1 does full blog posts, and Group 2 does quotations-only posts.

• Mariana Starke, The Widow of Malabar (PWeb Documents)

Blogs of Interest, version B: Group 2 does full blog posts, and Group 1 does quotations-only posts.

• Finbarr Barry Flood, "Correct Delineations and Promiscuous Outlines: Envisioning India at the Trial of Warren Hastings" (Pweb Documents)
• Samir Soni, "'A more dreadful punishment Draco himself could not devise': Loss of Caste in Anglo-Indian Fiction, 1790-1823" (PWeb Documents)

Blogs of Interest, version A: Group 1 does full blog posts, and Group 2 does quotations-only posts.

• Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Pizarro (PWeb Documents)

Blogs of Interest, version B: Group 2 does full blog posts, and Group 1 does quotations-only posts.

• Erik Simpson, An Approach to Finding Secondary Sources for a Research Paper in English
• Erik Simpson, Quick Guide to Chicago NB Style

Your main assignment for today is to put your paper prospectus into your blog of interest. We will go over the two handouts linked above in class, but you are also welcome to look at them in advance.

• Dana Van Kooy, "Darkness Visible: The Early Melodrama of British Imperialism and the Commodification of History in Sheridan's Pizarro" (Pweb Documents)
• Julie Stone Peters, "Theatricality, Literalism, and the Scenography of Suffering: The Trial of Warren Hastings and Richard Brinsley Sheridan's Pizarro" (Pweb Documents)

Blogs of Interest, version A: Group 1 does full blog posts, and Group 2 does quotations-only posts.

In place of class, we will have midsemester check-in conferences to talk about your papers and how you're doing more generally.

• Maria Edgeworth, Castle Rackrent, introduction and 65-84

Blogs of Interest, version B: Group 2 does full blog posts, and Group 1 does quotations-only posts.

• Maria Edgeworth, Castle Rackrent, 85-122
• Claire Connolly, "The Secret of Castle Rackrent" (PWeb Documents)

Blogs of Interest, version A: Group 1 does full blog posts, and Group 2 does quotations-only posts.

• Germaine de Staël, Corinne, Or Italy, 1-87

Blogs of Interest, version B: Group 2 does full blog posts, and Group 1 does quotations-only posts.

• Staël, Corinne, Or Italy, 88-166

Blogs of Interest, version A: Group 1 does full blog posts, and Group 2 does quotations-only posts.

• Staël, Corinne, Or Italy, 167-263
• Also read the annotated bibliography assignment

Blogs of Interest, version B: Group 2 does full blog posts, and Group 1 does quotations-only posts.

Library Day! Keep reading Corinne to be on pace to finish for Monday.

• Staël, Corinne, Or Italy, 264-404

Blogs of Interest, version A: Group 1 does full blog posts, and Group 2 does quotations-only posts.

Your main assignment for today is to put your paper prospectus into your blog of interest. This time around, I will provide written feedback on the prospectus. In class, we will do a workshop in preparation for the annotated bibliography assignment.

• Jane Austen, Persuasion, 1-75

Blogs of Interest, version B: Group 2 does full blog posts, and Group 1 does quotations-only posts.

In place of class, we will have check-in conferences to talk about your annotated bibliographies and how you're doing more generally.

Annotated bibliography due by email attachment by 9:00 p.m.

• Austen, Persuasion, 76-152

Blogs of Interest, version A: Group 1 does full blog posts, and Group 2 does quotations-only posts.

• Austen, Persuasion, 153-236

Blogs of Interest, version B: Group 2 does full blog posts, and Group 1 does quotations-only posts.

By class time, add to your Blog of Interest a) a draft opening paragraph of your paper and b) whatever additional notes you'd like to share about how the paper might develop after that. During class, you will talk about these draft paragraphs and notes in your groups.

Last day of class: we gather to wrap up the semester and build a float for the big class parade.

Progress report due by email by 9:00 p.m.