ENH3130 - Literature and Opposition, 1660-1800

Leader: Clive Probyn

Offered

Clayton First semester 2007 (Day)

Synopsis

The unit is designed to introduce students to some major English texts of the Augustan (Enlightenment) era, selected to illustrate the intellectual, political and gender conflicts of the period. Special attention will be given to the relationship of writing to the emerging print media through a study of prose and verse pamphleteering and a group of 'best-sellers'.

Objectives

Students in ENH3130 will be encouraged to develop:

1. An understanding of the cultural and political context within which literary texts were created and of the civilization of Augustan Britain - i.e. England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
2. Familiarity with the forms and genres of a range of major texts, understood both as part of an evolutionary process of generic development and as the expression of ideological change.
3. The ability to read eighteenth-century literary English with enjoyment and to understand the reason for its linguistic differences from modern English.
4. The ability to argue interpretations clearly and persuasively in essay form and to communicate fruitfully in discussion.
5. Skill in using the Library's exceptionally strong resources in this area of study, including the LION and EEBO electronic archives.
6. A capacity to meet the general learning objectives of the department as set out in the preamble.

Assessment

First essay (1500 words): 30%
Second essay (2000 words): 45%
Test (1 hour): 25%
Third-year students will be expected to show a fuller awareness of the contemporary cultural background especially as it affects the writer-reader relationship.

Contact hours

2 hours (1 x 1 hour lecture and 1 x 1 hour seminar) per week

Prerequisites

A second-year sequence in English or permission.

Prohibitions

ENH2130