Course Description
A survey of eighteenth-century Scottish literature with an emphasis on its variety. The canon includes the nonfictional narratives of James Boswell; the poetry and song of James Thomson; James MacPherson and Robert Burns; the novels of Walter Scott, Tobias Smollett, Elizabeth Hamilton, and James Hogg.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be responsible for a more extensive
syllabus, secondary reading, and more ambitious, sophisticated
writing. They will be expected to master the secondary work in
the field and to bring to bear in their argumentative essays
the most current critical and theoretical paradigms. The long
essays produced in this course should be of the quality
expected of conference papers and/or journal articles. The
students will achieve this level of skill through consultation
with the professor and through peer review.
Athena Title
18TH-C SCOTTISH LIT
Undergraduate Prerequisite
Two 2000-level ENGL courses or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course)
Graduate Prerequisite
Permission of department
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
A knowledge and appreciation of the contribution of eighteenth- century Scottish writers to the literary heritage of England and the world. The ability to analyze the literature critically and an ability to place it in its historical context. The ability to speak and write about this body of literature with insight, clarity, and understanding. Students will produce about twenty to twenty-five pages of writing over the course of the semester, perhaps as three papers, two examinations, an annotated bibliography and a substantial research paper, or as a series of short responses or in-class essays to be revised into longer essays. Regardless of the specific form of writing required, students will learn to integrate larger insights about eighteenth-century Scottish literature with close reading of individual texts.
Topical Outline
The course outline will vary from instructor to instructor. Students will write critical essays and take examinations on the course material. Students may be asked to make presentations and reports as well. The following is a typical course outline. Week 1 Introduction Weeks 2-4 James Macpherson and James Thomson -- Nation-recovery in the poetry of Ossian and Nation-building in the Seasons and in Alfred, The Great, a Masque (which includes the song "Rule Britannia") Weeks 5-8 The Land - The people and the customs of Scotland as placed in relation to England: Smollett's "Tears of Culloden," Boswell's Journal of the Tour of Scotland and excerpts from his London Journal, and Smollett's Humphry Clinker Weeks 9-12 Creating a Past - The works of Robert Burns and the historical fiction of Walter Scott (Ivanhoe, Waverly) Weeks 12-15 Looking to the Future - The fictional worlds of Elizabeth Hamilton and James Hogg Week 16 - Summary