Senior Seminaroffice Hrs: TR 10-11; by App

ENGL 4999Office: 1061 9th St. Park

Senior SeminarOffice Hrs: TR 10-11; by app.

Spring 2011Telephone: 303-556-2575

Bradford Mudge

Eighteenth-Century English Women Writers

This course surveys writing by women in eighteenth-century England. We will consider a variety of genres, literary and non-literary alike, in an attempt to understand more fully the development of women’s voices over the course of the century. While the primary focus will be on the novels, poetry, and plays of the period, we will also consider letters, diaries, and non-fiction prose. We will try to keep one eye on the historical events of the period and the other on the literary evolution of women’s writing. Such a focus will help us to understand the ways in which women’s quest for social, economic, political, and sexual equality corresponded neatly to, and in some crucial ways was preceded by, a literary quest, a quest for authorial voice and equal status in the cultural marketplace. We will also attend to two related and unavoidable controversies: the controversy over womanhood itself and the controversy over literature. The industrial revolution brought profound and sweeping change to England. The expansion of the middle class, the increase in wealth, growing literacy and urbanization all put stress on traditional definitions of men, women, marriage, love, etc. As social structures and relations changed, women were asked to assume a disproportionately large symbolic burden. Not only were they asked to represent the most desirable qualities of human nature–beauty, innocence, love, nurture, selflessness, etc.–but they were also forced to assume its most terrible fears–ugliness, greed, selfishness, irrationality, disease, etc. At the same time, literary practice was moving from the court to the marketplace, from an old patronage system to a new free market economy, and women writers were leading the way. They had taken over the reins of a much maligned sub-literary genre, the novel, and were using the economic opportunities afforded by authorship to force a general rethinking about the role of women in literary practice. As the century progressed, more and more poems, plays, and novels were being made available to more and more readers. Critics, increasingly concerned about public morality, put good books in the “literature” category and bad books into the dustbin. Strangely, the debate about good and bad books got mixed up with the debate about good and bad women. Women authors, considered bold and brazen for stepping into the public arena and speaking their minds, got caught in the middle. Complicating all of this–that is, complicating the debate about “woman” and the debate about “literature”–was a broader debate about the role of pleasure in the marketplace. What kinds of literary pleasures were acceptable? What kinds are dangerous? Which pleasures were “real” and “true”? Which were “unreal” and “false”? Who was supposed to control these pleasures? The writer? the reader? the publisher? the courts? the marketplace? The history of women writers in the eighteenth century is inextricable from these questions, and this course is designed to facilitate their exploration.

The past is a foreign country!

Required texts:

Aphra Behn, Oronooko, The Rover, and Other Works.

Delarivier Manley, The New Atalantis (only volume 1; get online).

Eliza Haywood, Love in Excess.

Anne Finch, Assorted Poems (handout; or online).

Mary Astell, “A Serious Proposal to the Ladies” (handout).

Daniel Defoe, “An Academy for Women” (online).

Charlotte Lennox, The Female Quixote.

Henry Fielding, The Female Husband.

Sarah Scott, Millenium Hall.

Fanny Burney, Evelina.

Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary, and The Wrongs of Woman.

Dorothy Wordsworth, Journals.

Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

Select Secondary Sources (general):

Watt, The Rise of the Novel; Spender, Mothers of the Novel; Lovell, Consuming Fiction; Armstrong, Desire and Domestic Fiction; Ballaster, Seductive Forms; Barker-Benfield, The Culture of Sensibility; Brantlinger, The Reading Lesson; Brewer, The Pleasures of the Imagination; Terry Castle, Masquerade and Civilization and The Pleasure Thermometer; Clery, The Rise of Supernatural Fiction; Davis, Factual Fictions; Doody, The True Story of the Novel; Eagleton, The Function of Criticism; Ellis, The Contested Castle; Ferris, The Achievement of Literary Authority; Gallagher, Nobody’s Story; Hunter, Before Novels; Jones, Women and Literature in Britain; Kendrick, The Secret Museum; McKeon, The Origins of the English Novel; The Secret History of Domesticity; The Theory of the Novel; MacCarthy, The Female Pen; Mudge, The Whore’s Story; Pearson, Women’s Reading in Britain; Poovey, The Proper Lady and the Woman Writer; Punter, The Gothic; Richetti, The English Novel in History; Williams, Art of Darkness; and Warner, Licensing Entertainment.

Requirements

1)Preparation and Participation. This class is a “seminar” for seniors only. There will be a much greater emphasis on participation than in other classes. Not only are students required to prepare each of the reading assignments and demonstrate that preparation in class, but they are also encouraged to take responsibility for the quality of our discussions. I expect, in other words, to do more facilitating and much less lecturing. I also expect that students will arrive at each class with a knowledge of the text informed by secondary sources of their own selection. I expect that students will also acquire (prior to class) a familiarity with the author’s biography.

(30 points)

2)Position Papers. Ten. Position papers are short, one-page, single-spaced responses to the reading. Although they may "position" themselves anywhere along a continuum that begins with description and ends with analysis, they will be graded for two things: stylistic competence and the degree to which the substance of the reading has been engaged. Due at the end of the class during which the material is to be discussed. No late papers; no email submissions.

(5 points each; 50 total)

3) Final Paper. One, 12 pages. The paper may be a close reading of a single work, or it may range more largely over more distant terrain. Secondary sources (at least 5) are required. All topics should be okayed with the instructor (by Spring Break); final papers due no later than Tuesday, May 5th. Hard copy, please, delivered to my office no later than 4 pm.

(20 points)

TOTAL:100 points

Class Attendance. Because class discussion is so important to the success or failure of a seminar, regular attendance is required. More than TWO absences will automatically result in the loss of five points from the final grade; each additional absence will also incur that five point penalty. Of course, sickness happens, work happens, family happens, but theoretically there are no excused absences. I do, however, appreciate clear communication about your whereabouts.

SYLLABUS

Jan 18– Introduction: Of harlots and rakes, masquerades and operas, true coins and bad forgeries.

After today, you should be able to explain the industrial revolution and its effect upon the social, economic, political, and literary systems of Restoration England. You should also be able to explain the changes to the literary marketplace and the significance of the shift from the patronage system to the free market. In addition, you should know the significance of the movement from rural to urban, of increased literacy among the middle class, and of the preoccupation throughout the century with forgery.

20– Introduction continued.

Women and poetry; women and plays; women and the novel. We will consider women’s place in the eighteenth century and, in particular, how ideas about women were affected by larger changes in the political, economic, and literary landscapes. We will also consider questions of sex and gender, identity and voice. The goal is to reach a better understanding of the sexual politics of literature from 1700 to 1800.

25– Aphra Behn, The Rover (1677).

What are the characteristics of restoration drama? How do women’s plays differ from those of men? How would you describe Behn’s heroine, Hellena? Her female villain, Angellica? What values does Behn espouse for women? For men? What is wit?

27–Aphra Behn, The Rover (1677).

How does rape function in the play? Disease? Masquerade? Carnival? Of what does the play’s central action consist? What demands does this kind of play put on its viewers? What kinds of pleasures does it encourage? If the play were a philosophical system, what would be its beliefs, values? What kind of marriage is celebrated at the end?

Feb 1– Aphra Behn, Oronooko (1688) and Assorted Poems.

Where is the novel in 1688? What generic influences are apparent in Oronooko? What kind of book is it? Why was it written? What kinds of pleasure does it produce for its readers? How do women function in their support of the main character? What different kinds of women are represented? What ideas about love and passion and marriage and motherhood is Behn championing? How are these complicated by nationality and race?

3– Aphra Behn, Oronooko (1688) and Assorted Poems.

What ideas about love and passion and marriage and motherhood is Behn championing? How are these complicated by nationality and race? Compare and contrast the function of the body in Oronooko to the function of the body in The Rover? What happens when we measure Willmore against Oronooko? Of what value is writing in The Rover? In Oronooko? How do you read Behn’s poem, “The Disappointment”? Is it funny? How so?

8– Delarivier Manley, The New Atalantis (1709; volume 1).

Read the first hundred pages of The New Atalantis. What kind of novel is this? Of what do its pleasures consist? What is scandal fiction? How does it function? Are they different levels of scandal? How do they work? Can you tell it was written by a woman? How so? Is it “realistic”? How so? How not?

10– Delarivier Manley, The New Atalantis (1709; volume 1).

Describe Manley’s female characters. Are they strong or weak, well-rounded or flat? Of what significance are they? How about her male characters? Why do you think they are presented as they are presented? Do you feel that Manley is trying to manipulate her audience? How so?

15– Eliza Haywood, Love in Excess (1719).

What role do letters play in the novel? What are the connections between novel writing and masquerades? What do these connections suggest about

the secrets fears and desires of women of the period? What is realistic about Love in Excess? What is fanciful? What kind of escape would the novel provide to readers of the day?

17–Eliza Haywood, Love in Excess (1719).

What role do gardens play in the novel? Why is that space important to the female characters? Is there a space that is similarly important to female readers? Consider the morality of the novel. Are there good characters and bad? To what end? Do characters develop, progress, or change as the nove3l unfolds? What does our hero learn?

22– Anne Finch, Assorted Poems: “The Spleen,” “Introduction,” and “Letter” (handout).

Of what major themes do these poems treat? How does Finch deal with gender? What kinds of liberty is she interested in? What do you make of her poetic voice? How do her literary strategies compare and contrast to those of Eliza Haywood?

24– Anne Finch, Assorted Poems: “Unequal Fetters,” “Neer Resemblance” and “Nocturnal Reverie.”

In what ways is Finch a nature poet? To what degree is she measuring the purity of nature against the artificiality of culture? Is she concerned with female power? If so, how so? If not, why not?

Mar1– Mary Astell, “A Serious Proposal to the Ladies,” “Marriage”; Daniel Defoe, “An Academy for Women” (handout; online).

Compare and contrast the two proposals. How do they complement each other? What are Astell’s priorities? Defoe’s? Is Defoe’s proposal really about education? If so, what kind? Astell’s?

3– Henry Fielding, The Female Husband (1746; handout).

What concerns and anxieties do you see informing this text? What role does religion play in the story? Can you explain the intersection between titillation and criminality? What kind of text is this? How might it relate to some of the other work by Fielding? Joseph Andrews? Shamela? Tom Jones?

8–Charlotte Lennox, The Female Quixote (1752).

What role does reading play in the novel? What kind of reader is Arabella? How does reading influence who she is and what she does? What is Lennox up to here? What is the point of revising Cervantes? Are women’s adventures different from men’s? How so? Is there a complicated or a simple relationship between women’s reading lives and women’s real lives?

10– Charlotte Lennox, The Female Quixote (1752).

How do you find Arabella as a character? Is she smart? Powerful? Victimized? Is she pushed around by the men in her life? What do you think Lennox is saying about female agency?

15–Sarah Scott, Millenium Hall (1762).

Explain Scott’s utopian experiment. What problems is Millenium Hall intended to solve? How so? How do the women’s stories fit in? What are they intended to do? What do we learn from the structure of the novel? What is “gallantry”? Why is it a problem? What virtues are specifically female? Male? How does the novel treat sexuality? What makes Millenium Hall work as a community?

17– Sarah Scott, Millenium Hall (1762).

Are there powerful female characters? What do they look like? How do they get their power? Can a novel be both conservative and radical at the same time? What do we learn about the 18th century from Scott? What do we learn about the 21st?

SPRING BREAK

29– Fanny Burney, Evelina (1778).

What is a “novel of manners”? How do manners function in the novel? What are the advantages of the epistolary format? How does embarrassment function in the novel? Virtue? Effeminacy? Why does London assume such

an important role? What are readers supposed to learn of the city itself? Of what does Evelina’s virtue consist? What do we learn about masculinity?

31– Fanny Burney, Evelina (1778).

Is Evelina a powerful character? If so, why? If not, why not? Of what does her power consist? What kind of decisions is she forced to make? Is this novel more interested in men or in women? Or, in the choices about men that women get to make?

Apr5–Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792).

Of what does Wollstonecraft’s radical position consist? Where is the thrust of her attack? What is she discontent with? Can you identify specific passages in which you hear her anger? What are her solutions? Why do you think that she was so vilified in her day? What is her definition of “beauty”? “innocence”? Education?

7– Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792).

What would Wollstonecraft change about her world? What are her specific suggestions for cultural change? Is she “radical” by today’s standards? If so, why? If not, why not?

12– Mary, and The Wrongs of Woman (1788).

Why would Wollstonecraft write novels? Why not stick with political philosophy? What strikes you as realistic in the novel Mary? Sentimental? What is “sensibility”? What is “political” about the love story she tells?

14– Mary, and The Wrongs of Woman (1788).

What is different about Wollstonecraft’s second novel? How do images of prison/bondage function? To what end? What are her views of love, marriage, sex, freedom, education? Is she making any statement about sanity/insanity and gender stereotypes?

19– Dorothy Wordsworth, Journals (1798-1802).

What kind of writing is this? Is it “literature” or “history,” “poetry” or “autobiography”? What is it trying to accomplish? How do you know? How do these “journals” differ from your idea of “diary”? Do you enjoy reading them? What does it teach us about the 18th century?

21–Dorothy Wordsworth, Journals (1798-1802).

What kinds of stories does Dorothy repeat? Who and what is she interested in? What makes her mad? What were your favorite entries? How many different kinds of labor does she engage in?

26– Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (1811).

What are the defining problems of the novel? What problems, in other words, get the ball rolling? How are the sisters alike? different? How do they come to represent important themes in the novel? What role does money play in the novel? How many different femininities can you find? Masculinities?

28–Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (1811).

How does this novel come to be about knowledge, about who knows what about whom and about who says what about whom? How is the theme of gossip related to the theme of knowledge? Do you find Elinor a sympathetic character? If so, why? If not, why not? Is she a “powerful” character? How does Colonel Brandon redefine the typical romance hero?

May3– No class.

5– Final Papers due in my mailbox by 2:00 pm.