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Prof. David Porter |
Winter Term 1999 |
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Angell Hall 4212 |
M & W 10-11:30 |
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Phone: 647-6750 |
Mason Hall 2433 |
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Email: dporter@umich.edu |
http://www-personal.umich.edu/ |
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Office Hours: Tues 3-4 & Weds 11:45-12:45 |
~dporter/430w99.html |
The success of the novel as a popular literary genre tends to obscure the fact that it is a fairly recent innovation. In this course we will survey the first century of the novel's development in England, reading important works by such writers as Behn, Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, and Lewis, and paying special attention to the following questions: What distinguishes the novel from other literary forms, and why did this genre arise when it did? What were the chief concerns--aesthetic, social, psychological--of novelists writing in the eighteenth century, and how did these evolve over the course of the period? Finally, what role did authors claim for their novels in eighteenth-century English society, and what role did they actually play? Students will have the opportunity in a number of assignments to contribute original work to an on-going web-based project on cultural life in eighteenth-century England.
Course Texts:
(hard copies are available at Shaman Drum Bookshop, 313 S. State St.,
2nd floor; to view electronic editions, click on book titles)
Recommended Secondary Readings (on reserve at the UGL):
Ros Ballaster, Seductive Forms: Women's Amatory Fiction from
1684-1740
Lennard Davis, Factual Fictions: The Origins of the English
Novel
Margaret Doody, The True Story of the Novel
Ian Watt, The Rise of the Novel
Michael McKeon, The Origins of the English Novel
Janet Todd, The Sign of Angellica: Women, Writing, and
Fiction, 1660-1800
Laurie Langbauer, The Consolations of Gender in the English
Novel
Patricia Meyer Spacks, Desire and Truth: Functions of Plot in
Eighteenth-Century English Novels
Catherine Gallagher, Nobody's Story: The Vanishing Acts of
Women Writers in the Marketplace, 1670-1820
Emma Clery, The Rise of Supernatural Fiction
Course Requirements and
Grading:
1. Regular attendance and participation: come to each class prepared to discuss (and possibly write about) the reading assignment for that day (15%)
2. Five substantial contributions to the online discussion on the course's web-based conferencing site. These may be responses to reading assignments or to contributions by other conference participants. In order to be counted towards the minimum requirement, comments concerning a given text must be posted within one week of the final class discussion on that text, and no more than one posting will be counted per week. Additional contributions are of course encouraged, and will be taken into account in calculating the final course grade (15%)
3. Group oral report (10-15 minutes) on a background topic from the list below, accompanied by a written one-page summary and annotated bibliography of at least eight entries for circulation to the rest of the class. Additionally, a descriptive evaluation of one relevant web site (which may also be included in the bibliography) should be posted to the course conference site in advance of the presentation (20%)
4. Short (4-5 pp) essay offering a close reading of an important word or passage in one text (20%)
5. Final project: either a long (8-10 pp) essay comparing the treatment of a central problem or idea in two books, or a group web project on a topic of your choice in eighteenth-century literature or its historical background (30%)
6. Final examination, optional for those completing a group web project. For students taking the final, it will count for 30% of the course grade, and the weighting of the other components will be reduced proportionally.
NB: Casual absences are unacceptable, and after the first two will be reflected in a lowered participation grade. Late assignments will be penalized at the discretion of the instructor.
Week 1: January 6 - 8
Weds. Introduction
Week 2: January 11 - 15
Mon. Behn, Oroonoko
Weds. Behn, The Fair Jilt
[Fri. COW assignment due 5 pm]
Week 3: January 18 - 22
Mon. [MLK Day: No Class]
Weds. Defoe, Roxana to 85
Week 4: January 25 - 29
Mon. Defoe to 170
Weds. Defoe to 255
Week 5: February 1 - 5
Mon. Defoe to end
Weds. Richardson, Pamela to 130
[Fri. Short paper due 5 pm]
Week 6: February 8 - 12
Mon. Richardson to 227
Weds. Richardson to 324
Week 7: February 15 - 19
Mon. Richardson to 434
Weds. Richardson to end
Week 8: February 22 - 26
Mon. Fielding, J. Andrews to 110
Weds. Fielding to 182
[Fri. Final project proposal due 5 pm]
[Spring Break]
Week 9: March 8 - 12
Mon. Fielding to 260
Weds. Fielding to end
[Fri. Final project bibliography due 5 pm]
Week 10: March 15 - 19
Mon. Sterne, Sent. Journey Part I
Weds. Sterne Part II
Week 11: March 22 - 26
Mon. Burney, Evelina to 92
Weds. Burney to 183
[Fri. Final project outline due 5 pm]
Week 12: March 29 - April 2
Mon. Burney to 270
Weds. Burney to 359
Week 13: April 5 - 9
Mon. Burney to end
Weds. Lewis, The Monk to 142
Week 14: April 12 - 16
Mon. Lewis to 225
Weds. Lewis to 332
[Fri. Final project due 5 pm]
Week 15: April 19 - 23
Mon. Lewis to end
Weds. [Study Day]
FINAL EXAM: WEDNESDAY,
APRIL 28, 4:00-6:00 PM
1. The scope of each topic should be understood as limited to the context of eighteenth-century England.
2. Notes may be used, but the presentation should be delivered freely rather than read from a prepared text.
3. Annotated bibliographies must be alphabetized and formatted according to the model on the final page of this syllabus. The entries should include at least one journal article, not more than one web site, and no general reference works. Guidelines for evaluating web sites and submitting your web site evaluation to the on-line conference can be found on the course home page.
4. Presentations will be graded according to the following criteria: general interest, adequacy of research, organization, length, quality of written material. Your aim should be both to instruct and engage your audience: prepare the kind of presentation that you would enjoy listening to yourself. Be sure to practice ahead of time, both to become comfortable with your material and to make sure you don't exceed the fifteen-minute limit.
First Assignment: Introduction to COW (Conferencing on the Web)
1. Use a web browser to access the university's COW web site. You can reach this site either through the course home page or directly at http://calypso.rs.itd.umich.edu/COW/.
2. Select the "Tour" option, and carefully read through the "Participant" section of the on-line tutorial provided.
3. Once you've returned to the COW home page, select "UMich Enter" to log on. Following the directions in the tutorial, add the course conference (ENG-430-W99) to your hotlist, and create a brief user profile for yourself.
4. Enter the course conference, read any postings under the "announcements" and "introductions" topics, and then add your own introduction (where you're from, your interests, hobbies, life ambitions, favorite ice cream flavors, etc.). Take a moment to explore the other discussion categories and to familiarize yourself with how the program works.