English 456/540 Fall 2002                                                           

Instructor: Stephan Flores (sflores@uidaho.edu)

Restoration and Eighteenth-Century British Fiction: Novel Subjectivities

9:30-10:45 Tues.-Thurs Shoup 307

Office:Brink 125; 885-7419; 5-6156                                                           

Office hours:       TTH 10:45-11:45 and by appt.                                                 

This course explores emerging forms of subjectivity/identity, as represented primarily in early and late eighteenth century British fiction and “novels.” We shall consider especially how male and female writers present conceptions of the "self" in relation to developments in public life (advent of capitalism, rise of the middle class, various terms of exchange and consumption, including the importance of sexual and gender relations as well as differences in economic and class relations) and developments in the forms of fiction. These various considerations include whether different modes of representation relate to different conceptions of possibilities for human agency and choice, represented in comic and serious works within different narrative forms. For example, according to some recent critics, the literary history of the “rise of the novel” came to be determined and defined—especially in reference to Richardson’s and Fielding’s novels of the 1740s—largely by occluding or rewriting the prior, popular, “amatory” fictions and “secret histories” of women writers such as Behn, Manley, and Haywood. We’ll discuss such critical interpretations and explanations, and work to devise and develop further understandings of these subjects.

No midterm or final exam, but steady reading and emphasis on thoughtful analyses in focused, relatively succinct writing assignments, plus an exploratory essay and a longer critical/research essay or project. As always, we'll proceed through much discussion, and you shall select the topics of your longer essays, as projects framed within the contexts of our materials.

Primary, required texts:

Popular Fiction by Women: 1660-1730. Eds. Paula R. Backscheider and John J. Richetti (Oxford UP,1996).

Defoe, Daniel. Roxana, The Fortunate Mistress. Ed. John Mullan. (Oxford UP, 1996)

Richardson, Samuel. Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded. Eds. Thomas Keymer and Alice Wakely. (Oxford UP, 2001)

Fielding, Henry. Tom Jones. Eds. John Bender and Simon Stern. (Oxford UP, 1996

Burney, Frances. Evelina; Or, A Young Lady's Entrance into the World. Ed. Susan Kubica Howard. (Broadview P, 2000)

Edgeworth, Maria. Belinda. Ed. Kathryn J. Kirkpatrick. (Oxford UP, 1994)

Additional primary and secondary works shall be placed on library reserve, including The Cambridge Companion to the Eighteenth Century Novel (Ed. Richetti, 1996), The Columbia History of the Novel (Ed. Richetti, 1994), McKeon’s The Origins of the English Novel 166-1740 (1987), M. Kahn’s Narrative transvestism: Rhetoric and Gender in the Eighteenth-Century English Novel (Cornell, 1991), and related works and collections of critical essays.

Requirements:

1.     Six thesis (driven) statements that provide a one-sentence perspective on each of the fictions under discussion. The thesis statement must be posed in response to an interpretative question or problem that is either explicitly stated or clearly implied. Presented by different members of the class on a rotating basis, these one-sentence points of view shall help to initiate some of our class discussion. In addition to providing a copy of the thesis sentence in class to me, each student will be required to send a copy of the sentence (revised if you wish) to me in the body of an email message to be distributed to the class within 24 hours of the class meeting.

2. Five critical response-type writing assignments (these vary from 450 to 750 words, single-spaced, titled) that prompt you to identify and to address interpretive and critical issues presented by selected texts and related scholarship. Your observations and analyses should be succinct and sharply focused, with potential for substantial further development. Your responses should emphasize issues of critical analysis and judgment, and they shall often be used in class to invite dialogue on the question or problem. The problems and forms of these assignments may vary, including—at times—some choice of methods and approach but typically focused and developed briefly through a thesis-support structure. For example, at least one option entails a two-part structure comprised of a 250 word abstract of a piece of secondary criticism, followed by 350 words on the primary strengths and limitations of the essay or critical position/theory. Another option may take the form of an informal letter that explains a novel’s importance, its impact on you, and how strongly you would recommend it to others. Another mode responds to the subject in question (a novel and/or its critics’ views) through the form of a hypothetical debate or a comparison between different positions. The final response shall also serve as a prospectus for the longer essay project. These assignments are due at the beginning of class on the due date. You should be prepared to talk briefly about your methods and claims to foster further discussion.

3. Participation in class discussion (including informal writing). Please take advantage of the opportunity such discussions (at times in small groups) may provide to discuss your reactions, share your insights and research, and to listen and reply to others' ideas. I may call from time to time upon groups or individuals to facilitate class discussion. I hope such work will enable you to move the class in directions you find most helpful and give you opportunities to develop critical skills through collaboration while I continue to share my perspectives with you. Because our class is nearly seminar size, we’ll have good opportunities for conversations in which everyone participates.

4. Two double-spaced essays (Essay 1, 6 pp. Thesis-seeking/Problem-Solving Exploratory Essay; Essay 2, 8 pp undergraduates, 12 pp. graduate students, Critical Interpretative or Theoretical Argument). More on this later, but in general each of these essays enable you to explore an interpretive/contextual problem, try out a critical approach/hypothesis, and to express ideas prompted by your reading, by recent scholarship, and by our discussion. I am interested in seeing the ways that you select, define, and engage questions and contradictions, and I attend to the clarity, imagination, and grace that you demonstrate in presenting your topic, thesis, and argument. I do not always expect essays to conclude by "solving" such problems or by "proving" your thesis; I do hope that you address interesting topics in thoughtful and useful ways. Your first essay assignment is designed to enable you to explore materials as you seek to define problems and consider making claims and constructing arguments about particular theoretical or interpretative issues that bear on a specific work of fiction. The second essay is larger in scope and development, and requires more tightly focused and supported arguments. I am also open to discussing alternatives that might supplement this assignment with inventive incorporation of created, fictive primary and secondary texts that represent particular problems and positions. I expect you to confer with me during the writing process.

5. Due dates: All required work is due at the beginning of class on the due date--work turned in later will be marked late and graded accordingly. All required graded written work will be downgraded one notch (for example, B+ to B, converted to points for each assignment) for each weekday late (not just days classes meet but counting just one day for a weekend). Late thesis sentence statements will not be accepted, and such missing work, though in itself ungraded, will affect my evaluation of your overall course performance. Work more than a week late will not be accepted. I will grant short extensions for documented medical and family emergencies--but talk with me as soon as possible to request an extension. Always keep extra copies of your work.

6. Attendance is required—your participation is a crucial part of a collective learning experience. Excellent attendance and participation is rewarded; poor attendance is penalized. If you have no absences by the term's end (excused or not), you will receive four bonus points; with one absence, you will receive two bonus points. But four absences will lower your semester total by 12 points with a ten point reductions for an additional absence (for example, five absences=minus 22 points); more than five absences will cause you to fail the class, regardless of your semester point total. Almost all absences will be counted—excused or not—if something extraordinary occurs, talk to me.

7. Grades: Five Critical Response-type assignments weighted respectively in this order (20, 20, 25, 25, 30 points); Essay 1 (100 points); Essay 2 (130 points). These required assignments add up to a maximum of 350 points. Thus 315-350 points equals an A, 280-314 equals a B, 245-279 equals a C, 210-244 equals a D, and anything below 210 merits an F. I shall also reserve a potential five bonus points (or five penalty reductions for missing thesis statements) based on my perceptions of the strength of your participation and efforts over the semester.

8.     Office hours. I encourage you to confer with me—especially before assignments are due—to talk about your interests, intentions, and writing strategies. I also expect you to meet with me after midsemester to review your progress. My office is not accessible to the handicapped, so please let me know if you need to meet me elsewhere. If you cannot make my regular hours, we’ll arrange another time. I also welcome communicating with you by E-mail, and I expect that you will also have an e-mail address so that I can communicate with you and with the class in this fashion on a regular basis.

English 456/540 Fall 2002 Syllabus