English 356.01/02 Studies in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Literature  

2:30 p.m. -3:20 p.m. MWF (Moscow-Engin/Physics 202; CdA-HC 128) Fall 2019

Dr. Stephan Flores (sflores@uidaho.edu)

http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~sflores/

Office: 122 Brink Hall

Office hours: Thursday 2:30pm-4:00 p.m. & by appt.

Course Prerequisite: English 102 or equivalent, and pre-or-co-requisite of Engl 175, or 257, or 258; English majors must in addition have completed or be co-registered for Engl 215 or enroll by permission of instructor.

Course description: This course ranges across British poems, plays, short fiction, and novels from the 1680s to the 1740s by nine different writers, selected with some interest to explore continuities and developments in representations of figures at the limits—at boundaries of identity and social mores—figures in distress who may be figured (regarded) to cause distress, including transgressive, criminal behavior and predatory practices. Another aspect of our interest in the texts this semester is how literary forms develop, including the so-called 'rise of the novel’ and emergence of ‘character’ especially as situated in relation to social norms and larger political/state interests in monitoring identities and relationships, that invoke questions/issues of desire, pleasure, sexuality, and gender (relations), alliances of class, status, and family, and forms of commercial and contractual exchange (money and other commodities) in public and ostensibly private spheres. The pace/quantity of reading in the primary literary texts and to some extent also scholarship is steady and substantial—we’ll conclude the semester with Jordy Rosenberg’s highly acclaimed recent novel Confessions of the Fox that creatively and critically refigures/recasts some of what we have studied, particularly John Gay’s character of the thief Macheath (modeled after the historical criminal Jack Sheppard) in The Beggar’s Opera becomes depicted by Rosenberg in contexts of ‘gender’fluidity’ and the state’s interest to control people’s sexuality, their bodies, and behavior. Rosenberg is a scholar of eighteenth-century literature—his novel provides another, informed, astute, and provocative way to engage with this early modern and ‘enlightenment’ period’s literature.

Written work includes a weekly Inquiry-Starter (230 words) and a weekly Peer Response-to-an-Inquiry Starter (100 words)—posted to Bblearn discussion threads—these posts respond to and reflect upon the assigned reading and upon your peers’ perspectives; a Concise Critical Essay; a short critical ‘Memo’-essay that reflects upon your reading of your compiled/cumulative weekly posts in Bblearn as well as your other written work, participation, and studies over the semester; and a Term Essay. As suggested above, the steady-to-brisk pace of our readings is designed to provide for cumulative and sequenced inquiry into several thematic strands of Restoration and 18th c. literary history.

Here is a general guiding premise/claim for this 300-level literature course and its outcomes (also see expected learning outcomes noted further below): Literature provides us with a way of understanding how our social life works. Human social life consists of narratives for living, with ‘narratives’ being understood here as an actual life experience spread over time and guided by cultural stories that justify it to participants. Both the cultural and real-world narrative can change; both use frames to exclude norm-dissonant perspectives and values and to ensure that the meanings that support the continuity and homogeneity of the lived process are stable, predictable, and enforced. Who tells the stories in the culture thus largely shapes how that cultural world will be organized. Stories are what people believe and how they believe, and how people believe determines how they act and how they live. Stories can change how people think, perceive, believe, and act. The analysis of the work they perform is thus an important endeavor. And that is what criticism is all about. (An Introduction to Criticism: Literature/Film/Culture--Wiley-Blackwell, 2012).

Required Text/Options:

Defoe, Daniel. Moll Flanders. Ed. Paul A. Scanlon. Broadview Press, 2005. Pbk. ISBN: 1-55111-451-8 [or there’s a PDF or E-text version on Broadview’s site for 9.95 or I suggest that you contact the UI VandalStore to arrange for hard copy or E-pub version: https://www.vandalstore.com/SiteText?id=82756 )

or

https://broadviewpress.com/product/moll-flanders/?ph=520e08a63daa08ffebfa06f6#tab-description

Richardson, Samuel. Pamela [or, Virtue Rewarded]. Ed. Thomas Keymer and Alice Wakely. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. 9780199536498 [we start discussing Pamela on Oct.21—there may be an E-pub version as well—you can ask Chris Price at the VandalStore)]—online versions are available via weblink in our Bblearn folder on Pamela

Rosenberg, Jordy. Confessions of the Fox: A Novel. New York: One World, 2019. Pbk. ISBN: 978-0399592287 [and there may be an e-pub version of this—again, you could ask Chris Price at VandalStore, textbooks@uidaho.edu ]

The course’s other literary texts, critical essays/articles, and related resources are available online via the class Bblearn site.

Login to Bblearn before our first class meeting by using your UIDAHO NetID. You can update your password at http://help.uidaho.edu/. If you haven't already, setup your NetID at www.vandalsetup.uidaho.edu. If you continue to experience problems accessing BbLearn after changing your password, please contact the ITS Help Desk by email helpdesk@uidaho.edu, or phone (208)885-HELP.

Student Learning Outcomes (also see additional ‘general’ learning outcomes listed further below):

In English 356 students will learn, develop, and strengthen abilities

- to understand and to explain the historical/cultural dimensions of Restoration and 18th c.  works, including negotiations and ideological debates over the socio-political evaluation and determination of identities and relations, particularly as desires and identities are understood as rhetorical functions and effects of the literary text in its particular language/form/structure and contexts, and as such values and meanings are shown to be in flux, narrated and dramatized as being put into question or engaged in a debate among different social, political, class, gender, ethnic, religious, and ideological discourses and material arrangements.

-to engage in weekly short critical and expressive writing as well as in concisely focused and also more substantial critical writing that engages with one or more literary texts and their critical interpretation/reception by identifying problems, developing claims and arguments, and enriching literary understanding, interests, and commitments.

Requirements:

1. Fifteen Bblearn Inquiry Starters (ISs, weekly)—minimum 230 words each—that is, one Inquiry Starter is due by 1 p.m. each week on Monday, or Wednesday, or Friday—vary your choice of MWFs so that your posts are divided (nearly) equally among those days (five for each M, or W, or Friday over the course of the semester):

Each Inquiry Starter should combine a brief account of and response to some aspect of one or more of the readings assigned for a particular day, with a thesis/problem-driven reflection. Your aim is to present a thoughtful, focused/concise reflection about some aspect of a particular day’s reading assignments, including a quotation for illustration and critical inquiry: find a couple of points of interest that enable you to take a stance/make a claim, state a point of view/thesis. That is, your Inquiry-Starter should demonstrate that you are keeping up with and engaging with our weekly texts in significant ways, particularly as instances of discovery that may promote further conversation and study.

Inquiry Starters present a means for everyone to share enthusiasms and questions as you delve into the significance, methods, and effects of readings, and to learn from others' comments; the work of completing these also are designed to help you to develop critical competencies and analytic strengths at somewhat lower-risk stakes than the Concise Critical Essay, and the Term Essay, and form a basis for reflection and demonstration in the Memo on Goals and Learning Outcomes (#4 below).

Each Inquiry Starter is due no later than 1 p.m. either Monday, Wednesday, or Friday: direct your attention to aspects of the reading for that particular day of the week--in other words, if you post on a Friday, examine and comment on something 'fresh' for that day’s class rather than returning to passages and discussion from the prior Wednesday or Monday, and follow this practice during the semester as you vary your posts among Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

No late entries—Entries posted any later than 1 pm will result in a three-point reduction in your semester point total for each missing or late entry; insufficient posts are subject to point penalties/deductions as part of the evaluation of your accumulated Inquiry Starters. Come to class prepared to talk about your ISs/ideas. Note: you may make up for one prior missing Inquiry Starter by posting an Inquiry Starter on the assigned literary text within a week (no later than Friday of the following week)—if this happens, let me know by email that you took advantage of this ‘make-up’ opportunity.

I attend to the ISs as part of my evaluation of your performance in the course--strive each week for a full and thoughtful/analytical entry—avoid posting too brief and/or mainly descriptive entries. Additional note: from time to time I may take opportunities to highlight different ISs, so come prepared to talk about your post with a peer group and with the class as a whole. For examples of solid-to-strong IS posts, see examples in Bblearn. For those who repeatedly miss posting ISs, I will likely send an email to you earlier than mid-October, as a note of advice, caution, and inquiry.

Note/reminder: the 15 Inquiry-Starters along with the weekly shorter Peer-Response Entries are part of what you are required to compile in one document to form part of materials for the Concise Memo on Goals and Learning Outcomes (see #4 below). I advise that you compose your posts in a separate document, then copy/paste into Bblearn.

2. Fifteen Peer-Responses (PRs)—minimum 100 words each—that ‘reply’ to a peer’s Inquiry Starter, in a way that identifies what you found compelling or of interest in your classmate’s observations, and that aims to continue the implied conversation/exchange of views prompted by the Inquiry Starter and texts and ideas under discussion. That is, one Peer-Response is due by 2:00 p.m. each week on Monday, or Wednesday, or Friday (you do not need to post the PR on the same day that you post your own IS)—vary your choice of MWFs so that your posts are divided among those days (five for each M, or W, or Friday over the course of the semester) and divided among 15 different peers. The intention/purpose here is to foster and develop interpretive competencies and ways of knowing through deliberate exchange, in part to supplement classroom discussions in which not everyone has or takes the opportunity to participate. And as with the Inquiry-Starters, plan to keep a copy of each Peer-Response entry—in a separate document (see #4 below). Missing or late Peer-Responses also will each be counted against your semester point total, with 2 points deducted for each missing or late entry; you may make up for one prior missing Peer-Response entry by posting your late entry within one week—that is, no later than the Friday of the week following the missed response; if this happens, let me know by email that you took advantage of this ‘make-up’ opportunity.

3. Concise Critical Essay (900-1100 words, due by 1 p.m. Wednesday 2 October, upload to Bblearn assignment, include your last name as part of the ‘name’ of your document such as Smith_356_F19_CCE, provide a title for the essay—format should be double-spaced 12 pt, Times New Roman, 1-inch margins, headers in upper right corner with last name and page number, and indicate on your first page that this is your Concise Critical Essay, MLA guidelines for citation [see Bblearn folder "Advice on Writing Essays.” Aim to write a reflective, question -and problem-posing critical essay that explains and explores what you consider to be one of the most important/compelling/useful and/or problematic interpretative issues/ideas//theories in one (or two?) of the literary text(s) under review: that is, focus your critical inquiry on some aspect of what you have learned about studying a particular work and topic/thematic issue. Given the relative brevity of this essay, you may find it useful to quote briefly from one or more passages from the literary text and from a scholar/critic (see Bblearn folders) in order to support your inquiry with a specific illustration and point of reference/departure. You also may find it effective to compose a thesis for your essay that maps out the significant points that you want to develop and discuss. Assume that your audience is familiar with what we have studied; take care to articulate clearly your inquiry into the material, especially problems or contradictions that seem difficult to resolve.

4. Concise Memo on Goals and Learning Outcomes (50 points possible)—due by 5 p.m. Tuesday 5 November, uploaded to Bblearn assignment (titled, minimum 600 words, or longer, plus compilation of ISs and PRs): this assignment directs you to write a concise memorandum/letter that reflects upon what you have learned, done, and sought to accomplish in your studies this semester, including as demonstrated in the Concise Critical Essay as well as in the weekly Inquiry-Starter and Peer-Response posts, and as you reflect upon selected aspects of your class participation, reading, and studies, up through 1 November, including as related to the course’s primary stated/desired Learning Outcomes and your goals and aspirations for what you want to achieve and seek to do. Along with your Memo, include an appendix that compiles/copies each of your Inquiry Starters and Peer-Responses up through 1 November, with dates and subject line titles—for copies of Peer Responses, indicate for each entry which/whose Inquiry Starter you responded to. Place this compilation in an Appendix at the end of your Memo on Goals and Learning Outcomes.

In your Memo, aim to address such questions as how—in what specific ways—have your thinking, feelings, reading, and writing about this literary period, these selected works related issues/themes/ideas, and culture/history developed or changed over your studies and conversations thus far this semester? To what extent (and how) might any others (scholars/peers, for example) have played a role in your developing competencies, including in-class group conversations, discussions? What particular goals or aims guided or figured in your choices and practices/efforts? To what degree do you think that you have demonstrably met the primary stated Learning Outcomes for the course—how so, and perhaps, why (so)? If you had an opportunity to revisit, for example, one of your Inquiry Starters to revise and to expand upon your observations, which would it be and what might you seek to write, achieve further? Keep in mind that you will need to be necessarily selective in deciding upon, perhaps, a primary idea or issue that you have found compelling, have engaged with, and also selective in citing or referring to one or more texts to illustrate your understanding. Anything else that you wish to express in this Memo?

5. Term Essay (see related highlighted weblink), with title, due by Saturday December 14 by 2 p.m.----if an extension is requested and granted, then essays uploaded after 2pm will receive a -.15 point deduction for each hour late--confer with me if you need such an extension—upload your essay to Bblearn (include your last name as part of the document title, such as Smith_356_F19_TE) [see Bblearn folder "Advice on Writing Essays" on one or more of the novellas, novels, plays or poetry that we have studied from our main course schedule this semester (if you choose to do so, you may draw upon and revise work from your Inquiry Starters or Memo on Goals and Learning Outcomes, while also aiming to revise and advance/develop your analysis with greater depth and reach/complexity); approximately 8-9 pages for main body of essay, double-spaced, 12 pt. Times New Roman font, with reference to at least two pieces of secondary criticism (selected only from resources in Bblearn folders); that is, you must refer to/cite/draw upon at least two substantial article/book chapters from the Bblearn folder (with proper MLA citation format including a Works Cited bibliography). Do not plan to consult other/outside secondary criticism from scholarly journals and books or to incorporate such sources from ‘outside’ those in Bblearn.

I ask that you send to me by email a brief description of your provisional topic and thesis, by 1 p.m. Wednesday December 4. The primary aims of this thesis-seeking/problem-posing essay assignment is to engage with one or more literary texts and critical interpretation/reception by identifying problems, developing claims and arguments, and enriching your literary understanding, interests, and commitments. I shall attend to the ways that you select, define, and engage questions and contradictions, and to the clarity, imagination, and grace that you demonstrate in presenting your topic, (hypo)thesis, and argument, and the extent to which your work engages with, explains, and contributes to the larger "conversation" of scholarship on the topic and texts under analysis. I am not necessarily interested so much in whether your analysis is 'original' as I am in whether you address an interesting topic, explore interpretive/analytic issues productively, and demonstrate understanding that proceeds from your own reading as well as your research. I do not always expect essays to conclude by "solving" problems or by "proving" your thesis; I hope that you address interesting topics (questions for debate, interpretation, and analysis) in thoughtful and useful ways. Please feel invited to confer with me during the writing process. See also University of Idaho Guidelines on Academic Dishonesty (including plagiarism). In accordance with the UI Student Code of Conduct, I report instances of academic dishonesty/plagiarism, to the office of the Dean of Students.

Use/learn Modern Language Association format for any notes or works cited (see, for instance, link to MLA format guidelines in the folder on Advice for Writing). See also University of Idaho Guidelines on Academic Dishonesty (including plagiarism). In accordance with the UI Student Code of Conduct, I report instances of academic dishonesty/plagiarism, to the office of the Dean of Students. See rubric for evaluating the Term Essay further below.

Further Concise Advice for the Term [critical] Essay assignment: Work to present a clearly written argument and analysis about some question or line of inquiry, based on evidence, about the meaning, power, or structure of the literary text(s) that you select from our readings this semester. Aim to produce a narrative that offers an explanation for the effects of the literary text(s)—these effects, for instance, include (arguably) the ideas and feelings produced by the text/performance. You will need to describe the evidence you are using, state your interpretations of this evidence, and bring those insights together into a claim (thesis) about the way the literary text works, what it means, and how and why it has the effects that you claim (such as its emotional impact). Such an argument aims to analyze examples in order to come to broader conclusions—your argument therefore should demonstrate inductive reasoning that moves logically and persuasively from particular pieces of compelling evidence to broader generalizations that advance, deepen, and enrich understanding. The evidence that you cite and analyze may include, for example, elements of dramatic, poetic/lyrical, and/or narrative structure and techniques including attention to the text’s overarching plot and story arc, including its representation of specific cultural, historical, ideological issues, identities, and relationships. The story in a work of literature typically engages with conflicts, contradictions, and questions or problems, and your analysis may consider to what degree the work of literature seems to answer or to resolve such issues, and how it might open up new perspectives for understanding and experience.

6. Participation: Please take advantage of opportunities to share your insights and to listen and reply to others' ideas. I hope that questions and discussions will enable you to move the class in directions you find most helpful, give you opportunities to develop critical skills through collaboration, and provide for a productive, interesting exchange of perspectives among the class. You may meet periodically in small groups in class primarily for sharing Inquiry-Starters and Peer-Responses and to prompt our class discussions. I expect you to contribute productively to class discussion (seek opportunities each class and at least each week to do so); I will occasionally make an effort to call on you directly, especially if you tend not (!) to pitch in to share your views and questions. It is helpful, if you wish, to keep a weekly log in which you track your participation in class discussion, by jotting down in several sentences during or following each class meeting a brief notation of what you contributed to each class meeting—this ‘journal’ may be particularly helpful for the Memo assignment (#4) and engaged participation is taken into consideration as I evaluate the Memo on Goals and Learning Outcomes (#4 above).

7. All required work is due when specified on the due date—work turned in late will be graded accordingly. Required graded written work will be downgraded one notch (for example, B+ to B, converted to points for each assignment) for each day late. See assignments for deadlines for limits on late work, and note that I will not accept a late Term Essay—that deadline is firm. I will grant short extensions for medical and family emergencies—but talk with me as soon as possible to request an extension. Always keep copies of your work.

8. Attendance: always attend class (unless you are sick). One to three absences--excused or not--will not affect your semester grade; a fourth absence will lower your semester point total by two points only if you reach five absences, with a two-point reduction for each additional absence (five absences=minus four points, six absences = minus 6 points); eight or more absences is sufficient cause for you to receive a failing grade for the course, regardless of your semester point total. All absences will be counted—excused or not—if something extraordinary occurs, talk to me. I note absences in the Bblearn Grade Center by entering -.1 for each absence—as a minimal notation/placekeeper—until five absences have occurred, then the larger deduction is shown. It may be helpful near the end of the semester for you to remind me which absences were due to illness, preferably with a doctor's note.

Another category of absence has to do with conflicting university commitments that are academic (such as a theater majors' trip to regional conference) or perhaps directly related to next steps in your professional life/career (such as a job interview) or if you are a UI athlete, absences that are due to a team trip, or for documented and timely notice of illness that creates an occasional absence or a documented disability that results in occasional absences. To make up for such absences--on an absence-by-absence basis--select an assigned text for the day on which you have an absence and post an extra Inquiry Starter for that week (to be posted no later than a week following the missed class), and send an email to me with the content of that post (sflores@uidaho.edu). Aim to include reference to some critical perspective/scholarly article in that post.

9. Grades: Concise Critical Essay (60 pts.); Memo on Goals and Learning Outcomes, with compilation of ISs and PRs as well as overall participation/engagement (50 points); Term Essay (110 pts). These required assignments add up to a maximum of 220 points. Thus 198-220 points equals an A, 176-197 equals a B, 154-175 equals a C, 132—153 equals a D, and anything below 132 receives an F. As noted above, Incomplete or missing inquiry-starter entries and peer-response entries will be counted against your semester grade, with -3 points for each missing or incomplete Inquiry Starter, and -2 points for each missing or late peer response entry. Please consider that the weekly reading and writing and attendance/participation comprise a vital aspect of building cumulative, sequenced competencies and understanding as assignments are due and through the end of semester. If you are falling short of basic, competent work prior to midsemester, I will let you know that both through the Bblearn Grade Center and in some cases of significant concern, by individual emails from me. If you want my sense of how you are doing, please ask.

10. Office hours. I encourage you to confer with me—especially before assignments are due—to talk about your interests, intentions, and writing strategies. If you cannot make my regular hours (in 122 Brink Hall), we’ll arrange another time. I also welcome communicating with you by E-mail (sflores@uidaho.edu). If you know that you plan to stop by my office, please let me know in advance by email, and include the desired or likely time frame, and what you'd like to discuss.

11. Use of laptops, tablets, and cell phones during class is acceptable only for accessing course materials: our assigned reading/texts. Do not participate online during class on email or other social media/forums.

12. Do not submit work for this class that you have submitted or intend to submit for a grade in another course; as always, be careful to cite anyone else's work that you draw upon, this includes not only formal citation of secondary resources/scholarship for the primary, graded written assignments but also informal commentary, such as in the Inquiry Starters (do not, for instance, copy/revise material from such sources as SparkNotes, to substitute for your own critical observations and insights). In accordance with the UI Student Code of Conduct, I report all such instances to the Dean of Students Office, and do not offer the option to re-do a plagiarized assignment, which will receive zero points. See highlighted link in Bblearn folder on Advice on Writing to a useful guide to avoiding plagiarism, and a link to information on the university's policies regarding plagiarism. See also University of Idaho Guidelines on Academic Dishonesty (including plagiarism).

Plagiarism includes the using of ideas, data, or language of another as one’s own without specific or proper acknowledgement or citation, lack of knowledge of proper citation is not valid excuse for plagiarism as it is the responsibility of the author writing the material to know the proper methods for appropriate citation and/or seek guidance/help when using another’s work.

Plagiarism can be committed in any type of assignment and includes, but is not limited to, the following behavior that also does not include the full, clear and proper acknowledgement of the original source:

The copying of another person’s work, published or unpublished;

The paraphrase of another person’s work, published or unpublished;

Using another person’s ideas, arguments, and/or thesis from a published or unpublished work;

Using another person’s research from a published or unpublished work;

Using materials prepared by a person or agency in the selling of term papers or other academic materials.

13. Classroom Learning and Civility: To support learning and discovery in this course—as in any university course—it is essential that each member of the class feel as free and as safe as possible in his or her participation. To this end, we must collectively expect that everyone (students, professors, and guests) seek to be respectful and civil to one another in discussion, in action, in teaching, and in learning. Because knowledge and learning are constructed and construed through social inquiry and exchange, it is vital that course dialogue and debate encourage and expect a substantial range of reasoned, expressive, and impassioned articulation of diverse views in order to build a stronger understanding of the materials and of one another's ways of knowing. These practices strengthen our capacities for understanding and the production of (new) knowledge. As with the critical writing assignments for this class, our primary aims include engaging with texts and their varied critical interpretations by identifying problems, developing claims and arguments with supporting lines of evidence and explanation, and enriching our literary understanding, interests, and commitments.

Should you feel our classroom interactions do not reflect an environment of civility and respect, you are encouraged to meet with me during office hours to discuss your concern. Additional resources for expression of concern and avenues of support include the Chair of the Department of English, Dr. Jodie Nicotra, the Dean of Students office and staff (5-6757), the UI Counseling & Testing Center’s confidential services (5-6716), or the UI Office of Human Rights, Access, & Inclusion (5-4285).

14. Disability Support Services: Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have documented temporary or permanent disabilities. All accommodations must be approved through Disability Support Services (885-6307; dss@uidaho.edu; www.uidaho.edu/dss) located in the Idaho Commons Building, Room 306 in order to notify your instructor(s) as soon as possible regarding accommodation(s) needed for the course.

List of General Course Learning Outcomes:

• Reinforces close reading, research skills, and analytical writing strategies.

• Help students investigate how these literary texts shape and reflect their particular contexts, including differences in treatment of issues across the time period covered.

• Helps students engage with and develop investment in the plays, poems, fiction, and related texts/criticism—using a range of assignments and resources, including online writing/discussions.

• Helps students engage in scholarly conversations about literature—building from their research skills and use of evidence and related texts in previous classes to position themselves in dialogue with critical discussions.

• Requires and directs students in ways to write sustained analytical essays (with selected research) that evidence close reading of the literature to include well-developed theses/argument, engagement with critical sources, and ability to ask meaningful questions of the literature and its construction. Students are required to sustain an analysis of eight or more pages in the Term Essay, and to write additional pages of analysis during the semester (including a concise critical essay, memo on goals and learning outcomes, and weekly online inquiry starters and peer response entries). Evaluation of each student’s Term Essay includes instructor's use of a rubric to identify specific areas assessed.

• Supports exploration of theoretical perspectives on literary and cultural studies, enabling students to reflect upon, compose, and articulate the ways that they engage with critical theory and practice.

•Helps students understand applications of English studies with references to contemporary events/situations that show similar problems depicted in the texts recurring in present day life and social relations, including discussion in this course, for example, of the recent novel Confessions of the Fox.

•Expects and monitors that students' writing exhibits correct usage of grammar and of MLA formats and citation conventions.