Writing About Literature & Society:
The Age of Reason?
English 3.303, Autumn 1995, Jack Lynch
Go directly to: September -- October -- November
-- December
- Office: 898-6331; 310 Bennett Hall. Hours: Thursday,
3:00-4:00, and by appointment.
- Home: (609) 482-5867 (before 11 p.m.!).
- E-mail: jlynch@english.upenn.edu
(the best way to reach me).
- Listserv: lynch3@english.upenn.edu
- URL: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~jlynch/
Be sure to read the following closely:
Much of this course takes advantage of computers. If you have computer
trouble, send a message to
english-help@english.upenn.edu
and you'll receive a response within a day.
Schedule of Class Meetings
Introduction
The Age of Reason? The Enlightenment? The Neo-Classical Age?
Background on the eighteenth century. Class requirements, schedule,
format, and so on.
Crime and Punishment
Tuesday, 12 September:
John Gay, The Beggar's Opera, Act
I.
Thursday, 14 September:
The Beggar's Opera, Act II.
Writing Seminar: Organizing an Argument.
Tuesday, 19 September:
John Gay, The Beggar's Opera, Act
III; handout from McLynn, Crime and Punishment in
Eighteenth-Century England (Introduction and pages on Wild and
Sheppard). Two-page paper due: The Beggar's Opera.
Thursday, 21 September:
The Beggar's Opera, continued. Boswell, Johnson on The Beggar's Opera; Boswell's visit to Tyburn and Newgate (from The
London Journal); selections from The
Complete Newgate Calendar. In-Class Peer Editing.
Tuesday, 26 September:
Daniel Defoe, Roxana, pp. 35-133.
Thursday, 28 September:
Daniel Defoe, Roxana, pp. 133-230. Boswell, Johnson's
correspondence with Dodd; Boswell, Johnson
on execution; Johnson on the death penalty. Grammar and Style Guide: clarity, precision, and grace.
Daniel Defoe, Roxana, pp. 230-379 (end). Two-page paper
due: Roxana.
Thursday, 5 October:
No class: I'll be away. Catch up.
The Age of Reason?
Tuesday, 10 October:
Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal.
First Paper Due: Four to five pages on Gay or Defoe.
Thursday, 12 October:
Selections from Johnson, The Life of
Savage. Grammar and Style Guide: audience, economy, vocabulary, and obfuscation.
Tuesday, 17 October:
No Class: Fall Break. (Class report on
Thursday.)
Thursday, 19 October:
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, parts one (Lilliput) and two (Brobdingnag). Grammar and Style Guide:
emphasis and sexist language.
Tuesday, 24 October:
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, parts three (Laputa, &c.) and four (Houyhnhnmland). Two-page paper
due: Johnson or Swift.
Thursday, 26 October:
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, continued. Writing
Seminar: Polishing Prose. Grammar and Style Guide: concrete language, wasted words, long words, and bugbears.
Dead Cats and Turnip Tops
Tuesday, 31 October:
Jonathan Swift, "Description
of a City Shower"; "Description
of the Morning"; "The
Lady's Dressing Room." Two-page paper due (assigned in class on
Thursday, 26 October).
William Hogarth, "Southwark Fair"; The Four Times of the Day; "Beer Street"; "Gin Lane"; The Four Stages of
Cruelty. Writing Seminar: Developing a Thesis. Grammar and Style
Guide: citation, fonts, justification, punctuation around quotation marks,
and titles.
"Let Me Not Be Mad"
Tuesday, 7 November:
William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
Presentations on final papers. Second Paper Due: Five to
six pages on Johnson, Swift, or Hogarth.
Thursday, 9 November:
Blake, Marriage, continued; Christopher Smart, Jubilate
Agno (excerpt); Boswell, Johnson on Smart. Presentations on final papers.
Tuesday, 14 November:
Samuel Johnson, selections from Prayers and
Meditations; Boswell, Johnson's "morbid
melancholy"; various visits to Bedlam;
William Hogarth, A Rake's Progress, Plate VIII. Presentations on
final papers. Two-page paper due: Hogarth, Swift, Johnson, or
Smart.
Thursday, 16 November:
Presentations on final papers.
Naughty Bits
Tuesday, 21 November:
James Boswell, extracts from the London Journal on Louisa; John Cleland, Fanny
Hill, part one. Presentations on final papers.
Thursday, 23 November:
No Class: Thanksgiving.
Tuesday, 28 November:
John Cleland, Fanny
Hill, part two.
Thursday, 30 November:
Bawdy songs from D'Urfey's Pills to Purge
Melancholy.
William Hogarth, "Boys Peeping at Nature"; A Harlot's Progress;
A Rake's Progress; Before and After; "Strolling Actresses
Dressing in a Barn." Third Paper Due: either
- a new five-to-six-page paper, or
- an expansion of a previous paper to eight to ten pages,
or
- a hypertext edition of a work discussed in this class (talk
to me about this, and see the samples from a previous
class I taught).
Thursday, 7 December:
Conclusion.