Summer 2019 - ENGL 420W D100

Topics in Eighteenth Century Literature (4)

Women Writers Behn-Burney

Class Number: 4275

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    May 6 – Aug 2, 2019: Mon, 1:30–5:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    One of ENGL 310, 311, 313, 315, 320, 322, or 327. Recommended: ENGL 205. Reserved for English honours, major, joint major and minor students.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Addresses specific issues in 18th century literature in English. May be organized by author, genre, or critical approach. Students with credit for ENGL 420 may not take this course for further credit. Writing.

COURSE DETAILS:

GENRE TROUBLE

Traditional definitions of dramatic comedies and tragedies center on their endings: comedies are supposed to end with marriages, and tragedies with death. Yet plays staged in Restoration and eighteenth-century England often wreak havoc with these norms, with several tragedies ending in marriage and several comedies concluding with lovers parting. And those are just the conclusions: some comedies also feature tragic elements like sexual assaults, widows, and near-death scenes, while some tragedies feature low-comic characters, bawdy sex scenes, and reconception of tragic characters as comic in their epilogues. Even mainstay tragedies from earlier periods like Shakespeare's Hamlet are laced with comic interludes in eighteenth-century revivals.

What accounts for this "genre trouble"? In this class we'll read several plays from the Restoration and eighteenth century that feature seemingly odd generic deviations, and ask what this tells us about audience taste. Authors will range from Aphra Behn, John Dryden, George Etherege, Thomas Otway, John Vanbrugh, and William Wycherley, to Shakespeare himself. Students will write research papers on topics of their choosing that relate to Restoration and eighteenth-century theatre, and will also help to bring theatre to life in a group-based class project.

Grading

  • participation 10%
  • two class presentations 10%
  • annotated bibliography 25%
  • class project 25%
  • research paper, 11-13 pages 30%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

RESTORATION DRAMA : AN ANTHOLOGY. Ed. David Womersley


ISBN: 9780631209034

DOUBLE FALSEHOOD. Ed. Brean Hammond


ISBN: 9781903436776

Hamlet. Ed. Barbara Mowat
ISBN: 9780743477123

Department Undergraduate Notes:

IMPORTANT NOTE Re 300 and 400 level courses: 75% of spaces in 300 level English courses, and 100% of spaces in 400 level English courses, are reserved for declared English Major, Minor, Extended Minor, Joint Major, and Honours students only, until open enrollment begins.

For all On-Campus Courses, please note the following:
- To receive credit for the course, students must complete all requirements.
- Tutorials/Seminars WILL be held the first week of classes.
- When choosing your schedule, remember to check "Show lab/tutorial sections" to see all Lecture/Seminar/Tutorial times required.

Registrar Notes:

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS