Course Description
An examination of eighteenth-century British literature with an emphasis on texts that attend to issues of empire, race, travel, colonialism, transatlanticism, and multiculturalism in the period.
Athena Title
The Global Eighteenth Century
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in ENGL 6451
Prerequisite
Two 2000-level ENGL courses or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 3000-level ENGL course) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course)
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Students will develop a critical understanding of the global eighteenth century, as depicted in British literature and culture. They will read broadly in British texts that depict colonial sites and contact zones, as well as foreign locations not under British control that helped to shape British identity and culture. Texts might be set in early America, Africa, the West Indies, Turkey, and India, and discussions will address the circulation of people, commodities, and ideas across global trade routes. In addition to examining the emergence of new genres such as captivity narratives and Oriental Tales, students will investigate stories of adventure such as Robinson Crusoe, Robinsonade novels, and seafaring literature. Diverse eighteenth-century genres will be paired with a range of scholarly approaches to travel, fiction, and imperialism, as students consider how eighteenth-century literature and culture were shaped by and contributed to perceptions of nationalism, geography, race, commerce, gender, and place. Students will produce about twenty to twenty-five pages of writing in a variety of formats that could include papers, examinations, presentations, and short responses.
Topical Outline
The course outline will vary widely from instructor to instructor. Topics will change from year to year, but could cover the following: Orientalism, postcolonial approaches to the Enlightenment, travel, trade, the East India Company, the Atlantic world, slavery and the slave trade, kidnapping and captivity, human exploitation, the abolitionist movement, antislavery poetry, genre and colonial politics, transportation by ship and carriage, and the circulation of goods and print media.
Syllabus