British Romantic Lit
Class Information
Instructor: Tinonga-Valle, Jennifer
CRN: 51367
Time: MTW 10:00-11:40
Location: 1130 Bainer
GE Areas: World Cultures Writing Experience
Description
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."
This famous passage begins Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities and provides a memorable introduction to both his historical novel and to the age that would follow the French Revolution and its aftermath. During the Romantic era in Britain, writers and artists responded to the competing tensions of uncertainty and possibility that Dickens describes. The nation was rocked by the American and French Revolutions, embroiled in the Napoleonic wars, entangled in debates about abolition and human rights, under the rule of a "mad" monarch and debauched regent, facing economic and environmental change, and straining to keep up with industrial and scientific development. It is no surprise that writers during this turbulent time innovated and experimented to produce some of the most enduring works in English literature, testing the limits of what poetry, novels, and essays could be and do.
In this class, we will explore the historical context and philosophical debates that shaped this period alongside its major literary works and publishing technologies. We will discuss the first and second generation of Romantic poets as well as novels and short stories by writers including Mary Shelley and Jane Austen. Our readings will invite us to examine the conceptions of liberty, creativity, imagination, feeling, experience, and language that emerge from their reimagining of past literary traditions and their hope that "the world's great age begins anew" (Percy Bysshe Shelley).
Grading
Reading Journal
Two Papers
Homework and Classwork Activities
Final Exam
Texts
The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Age (9th or 10th edition)
Frankenstein (Norton Critical Edition), Mary Shelley
Persuasion, Jane Austen