English 364
Restoration and 18th-Century
British Literature
Fall 2016
Stephen Behrendt
319 Andrews; (402) 472-1806
Office: 1230- 230 MWF
and by appointment
sbehrendt1@unl.edu
Rowlandson, The Exhibition Stare Case
Complete Course Information
Texts:
Required: The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Volume Three: The Restoration and Eighteenth Century
Henry Fielding, Joseph Andrews
Optional: Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837
Course Objectives:
This century (and a half) began with the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II (1660) and produced three revolutions, each of which irreversibly changed the world. We will look at the end of the old world and the birth of the new through the multiple lenses of literature, visual art, music and contemporary culture. While our approach will be historical, the course does not expect you to be a specialist. We will work at the material as a group, reading, looking, and listening to explore the interrelated workings of various social, political, economic, scientific, intellectual, and artistic forces in British culture at various points during the “long eighteenth century,” and we will try to make sense of how things change — and why. During the eighteenth century, literature and the arts increasingly “went public” as authors and artists appealed to a growing public audience, and the works that resulted were often as entertaining as they were serious. We will sample these materials to get a taste of the culture that gave rise to what we think of as “the modern world.”
Teaching Method:
Discussion. I will do some brief mini-lectures to provide background, but most of our work will involve classroom conversations in which we will offer and compare our impressions and ideas in a non-intimidating environment. Everyone who contributes regularly, actively, and meaningfully to our discussions will receive additional grade points, up to a maximum of a full letter grade.
Requirements:
Class discussion (quizzes only if necessary to produce discussion). Weekly submission of written responses in the form of a reading notebook. Two working papers (brief, directed essays). Final examination. A course evaluation is required at semester’s end.
Basis for course grade:
two working papers -- 25% each = 50%
final examination -- 25% = 25%
reading notebook -- 25% = 25%
(submitted weekly) 100%
Questions, problems, complaints, etc.:
I am often in or near my office when I am not in class, and I will keep my regular office hours unless an emergency arises, in which case I will post a note. You can also make appointments for other, mutually convenient, times. My door is just about always open to you; if questions, problems, or complaints arise, please see me ASAP.
The Aims of This Course:
To familiarize you with the broad outlines of the literature and culture of the Restoration era and the eighteenth century that followed it in Great Britain. Because the time is short and the literature vast, we will sample a limited number of authors rather than attempting a truly comprehensive survey, although we will look at poetry, drama, prose fiction and non-fiction prose. We will consider literature within the historical and cultural contexts of the century in general, and we will attempt to situate both individual works and larger “movements” within the broad history of ideas in culture as they were evolving in England and the rest of the world during the nearly century and a half that this course covers. As a result, we will necessarily consider also intellectual, philosophical, political, social and cultural developments in England during an age of determined imperialist expansion, revolutionary industrial and scientific progress, and increasingly diversifying intellectual and philosophical inquiry. Finally, because this is a relatively small class, I very much hope that we will be able to engage in informed conversation about literature, reading, and culture within a variety of historical, social, critical, and intellectual contexts.
What You Can Expect to Do in This Course:
The Department of English has articulated its expectations about what sort of skills, activities, and experiences students should expect to gain or sharpen in courses at various levels of the curriculum. For courses at the 300 level (like this one), you should expect to do the following:
About What I Expect from You:
While I do not expect you to be familiar with any of our material in advance, I do expect you to know how to read literary works with some insight and sophistication about both subject matter and the formal features of the genres. I expect you to come to class, to talk about what you read, and to share with one another as we try to make greater sense of the material we will study over the course of the semester. This will require some effort from everyone. It is generally assumed that preparing for one’s university courses requires — at minimum — about three hours for every hour of class meeting time. That is probably about accurate for this course; if you cannot or will not make that sort of time commitment for preparing for classes, you may want to think about whether you should remain in the group.
Course Requirements and Grade Standards, in greater detail:
1. An ongoing Reading Notebook in which you record your responses to and commentary on assigned readings and their contexts. This set of notes, which you will submit to me every week, will count for 25% of your course grade
2. Two Working Papers, which are directed essays that you will write outside class time. You will have about a week to prepare each essay, on a topic I will provide. Each essay counts for 25% of your course grade.
3. A Comprehensive Final Examination (i. e., covering all the course materials) written during Final Examination week. This exam will probably include both “objective” questions (involving names, dates, details of texts and contexts, passages from required reading, and classroom discussions) and two essay questions (you will be able to choose from multiple topics that I may circulate in advance). This examination counts for 25% of your course grade.
A Note on Class Participation:
In keeping with the letter and the spirit of the Integrative Studies requirement, I consider your participation in our group work to be a vital part of this course, especially since the small size of this course is specifically intended to facilitate discussion. You can expect your final course grade to reflect the extent to which you have made consistent, helpful, and thoughtful contributions to our work.
Electronics-free environment:
Unless you have a documented disability or are using electronic texts or consulting relevant online materials, please DO NOT use laptops, tablets, smartphones or other electronic devices during our class meetings. This rule will ensure your courtesy to one another and to me. Our sessions are short; you will probably discover that you can survive being off line for fifty minutes.
Disclaimer Section:
Achievement Centered Education
By passing this course, you will fulfill ACE Learning Outcome 5: “Use knowledge, historical perspectives, analysis, interpretation, critical evaluation, and the standards of evidence appropriate to the humanities to address problems and issues.” Your work will be evaluated by the instructor according to the specifications described in this syllabus. At the end of the term, you may be asked to provide samples of your work for ACE assessment as well.
Opportunities to achieve this outcome:
You will read, learn about, and discuss a wide range of texts (mostly poetry and non-fiction prose) by representative major authors in British literature of the Restoration and eighteenth century. We will put each reading into historical and cultural context, through mini-lectures and classroom discussion. You will get practice in interpreting literature from the perspective of history as well as from the perspective of literary form and technique. You will explore and challenge various interpretations of literary and historical meaning through close reading and other forms of literary analysis and through the application of historical evidence, and you will learn how to understand individual texts within the context of literary and historical movements, such as Neoclassicism, Rationalism, Realism, and Sensibility.
Opportunities to demonstrate achievement of this outcome:
Assignments will offer you a range of opportunities to apply historical knowledge and literary analysis to problems and issues relevant to the literary texts we study. Your reading notebook will become a record of your private interaction with our course materials; you will apply literary and historical interpretation to make critical evaluations of various texts. I will design essay assignments to require both close reading practices and larger cultural/historical analyses of literary texts. Essay examinations (like the final) will require you to apply the historical knowledge and practices of literary interpretation you have learned by analyzing the significance of texts you have read, comparing them across authors and periods, and assessing their cultural and humanistic importance by applying textual and other evidence and crafting rhetorically effective arguments.
Department of English Policy on Class Attendance
“The Department of English expects students registered for English classes to attend all scheduled class meetings and to have a reasonable excuse for any absence. Instructors are expected to lower the grades of students who miss classes without reasonable excuses and to penalize any work turned in late because of such absences. Students who miss more than twenty percent of the scheduled class meetings of any course will ordinarily fail the course for that reason alone, except that (1) if absences occur before the Withdrawal Passing period ends, the student may receive a “W” grade, and (2) if the absences are excused by the instructor or approved UNL policy and a large majority of them occur after the work of the course has been substantially completed, the student may receive an Incomplete (“I”) grade. In both of these cases, it is assumed that the student meets the eligibility requirement stated in the Schedule of Classes. Members of the teaching staff may have more restrictive attendance policies than are here stated.”
You should know that I support the department’s policy on class attendance. I believe that, especially in a class like this one, the in-class work is a vital part of the overall course. Because of its interactive and unscripted nature, the in-class work cannot be “made up,” and if you choose to “blow off” the class attendance requirement, you will fail the course.
Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct
In any writing that you do for this course (and for every other course you are taking), you must cite the source for any and all writing that you have taken from “outside” sources like books, published essays, articles, and book chapters; newspapers and other periodicals; and any online or other digital sources, including video and audio files. This requirement applies both to direct quotations (which you should indicate by using quotation marks) and indirect references, paraphrases, or summaries. Any time you use material that is not your own, whether quoted directly or paraphrased or summarized, and you fail to cite the source from which you’ve taken it, you are plagiarizing. You should also cite primary sources (like the texts of poems you write about) such as textbooks, handouts, and online sources.
Understanding Plagiarism
Properly acknowledging the work of others is part of the process of generating new knowledge through honest effort, and doing so will earn you the respect and esteem of your professors, colleagues and professional peers. As students and scholars, we are constantly engaging with other people's ideas: we read them in texts, hear them in lecture, discuss them in class and encounter them on the web. Inevitably, we are influenced by the ideas of others and incorporate them into our own thinking and writing. To facilitate the free and honest exchange of ideas among scholars, we are expected give credit to those from whom we borrow words, images or ideas. In simplest terms, writers must distinguish their own words from the words of others by placing the words of others within quotation marks, and by giving appropriate citations to the sources of quoted text. Neglecting to do so is plagiarism: stealing the words, images or ideas of others without clearly acknowledging the source of that information. It is academic shoplifting, in other words, and it is patently dishonest and disrespectful.
The prohibition of plagiarism is not unique to educational institutions. If the expression of an idea is recorded in any way or fixed in some medium — such as a piece of writing, drawing, photograph, painting, or web page — it is considered intellectual property and is protected by U.S. Copyright Law. To plagiarize is to steal the property of someone else; it is actually a blatant infringement of the law and can be legally punishable. Think of how businesses (and universities) protect their products, names, slogans, and logos from use by unauthorized persons or companies. It’s the same issue.
Plagiarism in any form, however minor, is a violation of the UNL Student Code of Conduct, section B.1.1c, which defines plagiarism as: “Presenting the work of another as one's own (i.e., without proper acknowledgment of the source) and submitting examinations, theses, reports, speeches, drawings, laboratory notes or other academic work in whole or in part as one's own when such work has been prepared by another person or copied from another person.” If you are discovered to have plagiarized, you will normally fail the assignment; instructors are, however, permitted to fail students who plagiarize for the entire course and they are strongly encouraged by the administration to report all violations of the plagiarism policy to the office of Student Judicial Affairs.
If you have questions about the proper way to cite someone else’s words or ideas in your own writing, ask me or contact an adviser in the Writing Assistance Center, 115 Andrews Hall, 402-472-8803.
When to give credit
To avoid plagiarizing, give credit every time you:
Questions, Problems, Issues, etc.
If at any time you have questions about the course, my expectations, or your performance — as well as about anything else that may be relevant to our work as a class and/or your own individual work, goals, plans, or whatever — please feel free to speak with me privately. I will hold regular office hours at the announced times, but I am on campus most days until mid-afternoon and so we can generally arrange appointments at other mutually convenient times.
Students with Disabilities:
Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), located at 132 Canfield Administration Building, provides individualized academic support for students with documented disabilities. Support services can include extended test time, textbooks and handouts in alternative formats (electronic texts, Braille, taped texts, etc), classroom notes, sign language interpreters, and transcriptionists. SSD not only accommodates students that have visible disabilities, but students with other varying types of disabilities that impact college life. If you have a documented disability that is impacting your academic progress, please contact SSD at 402-472-3787 (or 402-472-0053 [TTY], or 402-472-0080 [FAX]) and schedule an appointment. If you do not have a documented disability but you are having difficulties with your coursework (such as receiving low grades even though you study more than your classmates or find you run out of time for test questions when the majority of your peers finish their exams in the allotted time), you may schedule an appointment to discuss the challenges you are experiencing.
I encourage any student with disabilities to contact SSD for a confidential discussion of her or his individual needs for academic accommodation. I will also be happy to chat confidentially with anyone about how to take advantage of SSD’s services. It is the policy of the University of Nebraska - Lincoln to provide flexible and individualized accommodation to students with documented disabilities that may affect their ability to fully participate in course activities or to meet course requirements. To receive accommodation services, students must be registered with the services for students with Disabilities (SSD) office, 132 Canfield Administration Building (see contact numbers above).