Revolutions &
Counter-Revolutions
Liberal Studies 503/English 521,
Autumn 2007
Go directly to:
September
October
November
December
Office: (973) 353-5279 x 516; 516 Hill Hall.
Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 2:304:00, 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 (3,5004,000 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 (172544):
"Idea of the Work" (pp. 129); Book 1, Sections 24
(pp. 75131); Book 2, Prolegomena (pp. 13543); Book
3, Section 1 (pp. 35580); Book 4, Introduction (pp.
39596); Book 5 (pp. 46191).
- 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.