English 364
Restoration and 18th-Century British Literature
Fall 2007
Stephen C. Behrendt
319 Andrews; 472-1806
Office: 1030-1130 MWF
Study Questions, Internet Resources, Materials for Further
Study
General Questions for the Study and Analysis of Novels These questions will help you analyze matters of form and content. There are a lot of questions here; pick and choose among them to help you develop your skill at reading within a variety of contexts.
Questions for exploring Authors' Relations to their Texts and their Audiences There are two sets of questions here. The first set will help you analyze the ways in which the authors may have thought about their texts and how they "work." The second set will guide you as you think about the relations that texts in general suggest between themselves and their reading audiences — including ourselves.
Some Notes and Comments on the Reading Activity This is just what it says: a brief commentary on the dynamics of reading, with two intriguing comments from modern theorists on reading.
"The Voice of the Shuttle" This is a great site for all areas of the Humanities, with links to authors, texts, bibliographical and other study materials. Click on this link to go directly to the portion of the site devoted to the Restoration and Eighteenth Century. Click on the title in quotation marks, above, to go to the main home page for The Voice of the Shuttle website.
Chronology 1642-1820 This is a useful chronolgy of people and events in Restoration and 18th-century Britain, prepared by Alok Yadav at George Mason University. The general chronology is subdivided by period.
"Eighteenth-Century Resources" An excellent starting-point for research on all aspects of British life, art, culture, politics, and economics; this extensive site is beautifully maintained by Jack Lynch at Rutgers University - Newark.
Luminarium This is the Restoration and 18th-Century portion of the excellent website maintained by the W. W. Norton Co. There are good links here to people, places, and events from the period, although there are also rather a lot of commercial links and other distractions. Even so, the site features biographies of individual authors, notable quotations, bibliographical materials, and other usefiul study resources.
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London, 1674-1835 This is just what it sounds like: on-line transcriptions of court cases tried in London's famous central criminal court, the Old Bailey. There are records here of over 100,000 trials, with fascinating details about the lives and living conditions of ordinary Londoners during the century and a half covered in the archive.
Early Eighteenth-Century Newspaper Reports These are transcriptions of actual newspaper stories from the early 18th century, with a convenient index organized by topic. Very interesting for browsing: you will find everything from abandoned children, pickpockets, and popular entertainments to advice on fighting crime and how to get rid of bedbugs.
Early journals This site contains electronic facsimile editions of some of the issues of early periodicals like the Annual Register (for 1758-1778), which offers an abundance of factual data about all aspects of life in England, and The Gentleman's Magazine (for 1731-1750), which was a popular sort of all-the-subjects reading material for the relatively well-to-do 18th-century gentleman.
The World of London Theatre, 1660-1800 A spelndid multi-media electronic website for exoploring all aasopects of the theatre, performance, amd public spactacle during the Restoration and 18th Century.
Questions and Resources for Individual Works
Aphra Behn, Oroonoko
Henry Fielding, Joseph Andrews
William Wycherley, The Country Wife
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal
Stephen C. Behrendt, Fall 2007