Age of Johnson ENL3231

Sec. 1820 Spring 1998 (Craddock) T5-6, R 6 Anderson 210

TIMETABLE

For information about paper topics and basis for grades, see the "information" section after this timetable. Note that the books available for purchase are at Goerings Bookstore, University and thirteenth street. MANY ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE AVAILABLE ONLY VIA INTERNET OR LIBRARY RESERVE OR PERSONAL PHOTOCOPYING. Since 10% of your grade will be based on class participation, as measured especially by evidence that you have kept up with the reading, do not overlook these assignments.

Writing About the Present

JANUARY

6 Introduction, Johnson, in Selected Writings, ed. Cruttwell (Penguin), "London"; Blake, "London"

DAILY LIFE

8-13 Johnson, Ramblers, Adventurers, and Idlers, in Selected Writings, pp. 139-234

On January 8, we will complete "London"and focus on Ramblers 4, 18, 21, 50, and 60.

15-20 Boswell, London Journal , ed. Pottle (Yale)

22 Goldsmith, Selections from the Citizen of the World, TheTraveller

27 Poems of ordinary life

Gray, "Elegy written in a Country Churchyard"

Burns, Selected Poems

Baillie, "Night scenes"

Leapor, "Man the Monarch"

Robinson, Selected Poems

Barbauld, Selected Poems, especially "The Rights of Women" and "The Washing Day"

Cowper, "The Retired Cat" and Excerpts from The Task

Thomson, "Winter" from The Seasons

Johnson, "A Short Song of Congratulations" and "On the Death of Dr. Robert Levet," in Selected Writings, pp. 502-503

29 Special Cases: poetic reportage

Cowper: "The Castaway"

Crabbe: "Peter Grimes"

Goldsmith: "Deserted Village"

FEBRUARY

Tuesday, February 3: Paper 1 DUE

3-12 Comedies of contemporary life

Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer (Dover)
Sheridan, The School for Scandal (Dover)
Cowley, The Runaway

See also

• Samuel Johnson, Prologue spoken at the opening of Drury Lane Theatre, 1747
• London Theatre 1660-1800 web site

17-19 The Critic as Artist

Johnson, Preface and notes to Shakespeare, Selected Writings, pp. 261-305

Burke, "On Taste"

24-26 Writing about Religion

Hume on Miracles
Johnson, Review of Soame Jenyns
Wesley, sermon

MARCH

3-17 Writing about Politics

3-3 Burke, Speech to the Electors of Bristol, 1774; Address to the King (1777)

3-5 Burke, On Reconciliation with the Colonies

SPRING BREAK March 7-14

17, Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Women

• Dedication
• Advertisement
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 The Rights and Involved Duties of Mankind Considered.
• Chapter 2 The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed.
• Chapter 5 Animadversions on Some of the Writers Who Have Rendered Women Objects of Pity, Bordering on Contempt.
• Chapter 6 The Effect Which an Early Association of Ideas Has upon the Character.
• Chapter 8 Morality Undermined by Sexual Notions of the Importance of a Good Reputation.
• Chapter 10 Parental Affection.

Thursday, March 19, PAPER TWO DUE.

WRITING ABOUT THE PAST

19-31 Biography and History

24-26 Excerpts from Boswell's Life of Johnson

• Front Matter
• 1709-1725
• 1763

31 Piozzi, Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson (Ayer)

APRIL

2 Johnson, Life of Savage, Selected Writings, 50-133.

7 Gibbon, Excerpts from The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

9 Experiments in Fiction and Poetry

9 Walpole, Castle of Otranto (World's Classics);
14 Edgeworth, Castle Rackrent (World's Classics); also Johnson,Rasselas (World's Classics)

WRITING ABOUT THE TIMELESS

April 16 , The Vanity of Human Wishes, Selected Writings, 139-48

Thursday April 16: THIRD PAPER DUE

April 21, Smart, Jubilate Agno, Blake, Songs of Innocence and Experience (selections)

April 23 (Shakespeare's Birthday): No class (reading day). Rewrites due.

INFORMATION

Each paper will count 30% of your grade; the remaining 10% will be based on class participation, for which you will need a packet of 3x5 index cards. The following books are available at Goering's Book Store, on University Avenue just west of NW 13th Street:

Johnson, Samuel Selected Writings, ed. Cruttwell (Penguin)

Piozzi, Hester Anecdotes of Samuel Johnson , ed. S.C Roberts (Ayer)

Boswell, James London Journal 1762-63 , ed. F. A. Pottle (Yale)

Johnson, Samuel History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia (World's Classics, Oxford)

Walpole, Horace Castle of Otranto (World's Classics, Oxford)

Edgeworth, Maria Castle Rackrent (World's Classics, Oxford)

Goldsmith, Oliver She Stoops to Conquer (Dover Thrift, Dover)

Sheridan, Richard The School for Scandal (Dover Thrift, Dover)

PAPER TOPICS: (Note: Plagiarism is the unforgiveable sin. DOCUMENT YOUR WORK AND DO IT YOURSELF!) You may do these papers in any order.

A. Understanding eighteenth-century life: Research the childhood and young adulthood of one of the eighteenth-century people on a list I will provide. Write a profile, a brief biography, or a (partially imaginary) "day in the life of" your chosen person, stopping at some age between 17 and 25.

B. The eighteenth-century faces the twenty-first: Select one of the works we have read this semester (or, with my permission, another play/novel from the same period) and do one of the following:

1. Treat it as "Clueless" treats Jane Austen's Emma, i.e., write a parallel work that reuses and refers to the plot and theme of the original, but makes new points about our time. (P.S.: don't choose Emma!)
2. Plan a TV production--cast, sets, updates?--and "sell" it to a network by explaining why it should appeal to modern audiences.
3. Recommend the chosen work to one of your friends who hasn't studied eighteenth-century literature, explaining the parts that might confuse him/her, but analyzing the ways that the work is still relevant and enjoyable.
4. ? Your idea?

C. Two of a kind: Select one of the following options:

1. Compare and contrast two poems or two prose works we have read this semester in both form (everything about the work that can't be reproduced in a paraphrase) and content.
2. Compare and contrast one poem or prose work we have read and one poem or prose work of the nineteenth or twentieth century that is similar in one or more significant ways (purpose, values, method, tone, reader response, emotion, subject matter. . . ).

Class Participation:(ATTENDANCE CARDS). Class preparation and attendance count 10% of your grade in the course. Everyone starts with a high C--75--in class performance. At every class meeting you will turn in a 3x5 index card. On this card, in addition to your name and the date, you will state how far you have gotten with the assigned reading. There is no penalty for being behind in the reading, except that if you don't catch up, it will be harder to earn points for good preparation. You will add a comment or question on what you have just been reading. Comments or questions on current work will receive 1 or 2 points, depending on quality; comments or questions on late work will receive .5 or 1 point, again depending on quality. Three points will be subtracted for each unexcused absence beyond two; one point will be subtracted for major unexcused lateness or early departure from class, because such behavior is rude and disruptive. Note that Tuesday classes are double classes, so absence on Tuesday subtracts six points from your attendance grade.