Revolutions &
Counter-Revolutions

Liberal Studies 503/English 521,
Autumn 2007

Jack Lynch

Course Description

Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 2:30–4:00, and by appointment (appointments are best).

Home: (609) 882-4642 (before 10:00 p.m.!).

E-mail: jlynch@andromeda.rutgers.edu (the best way to reach me).

Listserv: revolution @ andromeda.rutgers.edu (for the whole class)

Course Requirements

• Written Assignments: There will be two argumentative and analytical papers, the first of around eight pages (2,000 words), the second either a new paper of around eight pages, or an expansion of your first paper to around fifteen pages (3,500–4,000 words).
• Research and Reports: Because of the variety of material on the syllabus, no one can be expected to be familiar with all the relevant contexts — and that includes me. The class will therefore be conducted as a seminar, with the students doing plenty of background reading and contributing to class discussion. To wit:
  1. As a matter of course, all students will be expected to do some basic reading on the lives and careers of the writers on the syllabus. Start with an encyclopedia and, where relevant, the introductions to the editions we're using.
  2. Each student will be responsible for two short (five-minute-ish) presentations over the course of the semester, one suggesting how the day's reading can be considered "revolutionary," the other on reactions against it. Each class meeting will begin with the paired presentations. The presenters will also direct the discussion throughout the class.
  3. Each student will also sign up for two additional research topics, putting the day's reading in historical context. These won't be formal reports, but you should be prepared to be the authority on the topic and to bring it up in discussion whenever it's appropriate.
• Readings: I'm ordering the following titles from New Jersey Books (not the Rutgers Bookstore). I've worked hard to keep the cost down, but it's not easy. If you can get these editions cheaper secondhand or through other channels, do.
  • René Descartes, Discourse on Method, Focus. ISBN 1585102594.
  • Giambattista Vico, New Science, Penguin. ISBN 0140435697.
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther, Vintage Press. ISBN 0679729518.
  • Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Dover Thrift Classics. ISBN 0486290360.
  • William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads, Riverside. ISBN 0618107320.
  • Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, International Publishers. ISBN 0717800563.
  • Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, Modern Library. ISBN 0375751467.
  The other readings will be available through the Rutgers Library Electronic Reserve service. One work, Mozart's Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), won't be available through the bookshop. Any recording will do, but I suggest the one conducted by Vittorio Gui, Angel Classics #73845. It's both a good performance and dirt-cheap. You'll have to find a copy on your own, but it can be had easily.

Schedule of Class Meetings

Wed., 5 Sept.

Introduction.

Wed., 12 Sept.

Galileo Galilei, "Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina" (1615).

Wed., 19 Sept.

No Class: I have to give a lecture in Philadelphia.

Wed., 26 Sept.

René Descartes, Discourse on Method (1637).

Wed., 3 Oct.

John Milton, The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649).

Wed., 10 Oct.

Giambattista Vico, New Science (1725–44): "Idea of the Work" (pp. 1–29); Book 1, Sections 2–4 (pp. 75–131); Book 2, Prolegomena (pp. 135–43); Book 3, Section 1 (pp. 355–80); Book 4, Introduction (pp. 395–96); Book 5 (pp. 461–91).

Wed., 17 Oct.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, First Discourse (Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, 1750).

Wed., 24 Oct.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774). First Paper Due.

Wed., 31 Oct.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte, The Marriage of Figaro (1786).

Wed., 7 Nov.

Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (1791), part 1.

Wed., 14 Nov.

Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792).

Wed., 21 Nov.

No Class: Friday schedule.

Wed., 28 Nov.

William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads (1798).

Wed., 5 Dec.

Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852).

Wed., 12 Dec.

Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species (1859), chapters 1, 3, 4, 6, and 14. Final Paper Due.