Module Identifier EN30630  
Module Title RESTORATION AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURY LITERATURE  
Academic Year 2003/2004  
Co-ordinator Dr Sarah H Prescott  
Semester Semester 2  
Other staff Mrs Carol M Marshall, Ms Louise Marshall, Marie Hockenhull Smith  
Pre-Requisite EN10320 , EN10420  
Course delivery Lecture   30 Hours  
  Seminars / Tutorials   10 Hours Seminar.  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Exam3 Hours  75%
Semester Assessment Essay: 1 x 2,500 word essay25%
Supplementary Assessment Resubmis any failed elements and/or make good any missing elements. 

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module students should typically be able to:
- demonstrate a detailed knowledge of a range of texts drawn from the period 1660-1780;
- articulate this knowledge in the form of a reasoned critical analysis of particular texts;
- locate the texts studied in appropriate literary, historical, and/or cultural contexts;
- explain and engage with relevant aspects of recent scholarly and/or critical debates about the texts studied.

Brief description

This module covers a representative range of writing published between the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660 and the American War of Independence in the 1780s; a wide span of history, and a period in which there were substantial changes in modes of literary production and reception. Rather than seeking to offer a comprehensive coverage of the period, the module aims to introduce students to the range and variety of the writing of the period under four key-headings.

Aims

- to introduce students to a range of poetry, drama, and fiction from the period from the 1660s to the 1780s;
- to locate this writing in the literary, socio-historical and cultural contexts in which it was produced and read;
- to encourage students to reflect critically on the texts chosen for special study;
- to encourage students to explore the relations between literary texts and between texts and their contexts;
- to encourage students to familiarize themselves with recent critical debates about the writing of this period.

Content

Topics
1. Dramatic Comedy: we shall examine the changing shape of dramatic comedy as the libertine Restoration theatre gave way to new codes of politeness.
2. Poetry: we shall focus upon the contrast between 'Town and Country' to explore a shift from neo-classical imitation towards more realistic, 'modern' and sentimental poetic forms.
3. Satire: we shall explore this dominant literary mode of both the late seventeenth-century, when party politics emerges, and the early eighteenth century, when literary professionalism, including an increase in female authorship, generated a new climate of public criticism.
4. Prose Fiction: we shall examine the development of sophisticated forms of prose fiction that accompanied the rapid expansion of the literary marketplace.

Lectures and seminars
Lectures (three per week) on this module are primarily concerned with mapping generic and cultural contexts and suggesting ideological and critical consequences, whilst the weekly seminars provide a forum for close textual analysis and the discussion of critical issues. Each Tutor will present a seminar programme covering material under all four headings. Subject to availability etc titles will be selected from the recommended editions listed below.

Assessment
Assessment is by one 2,500 word essay (which will contribute 25% of the module mark), and a three-hour, two question examination paper. The examination answers should be from any two sections of the module not chosen for the essay topic. The examination will contribute 75% of the module mark.

Recommended editions from which the seminar texts will be selected
Dramatic Comedy: Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Comedy (includes The Country Wife, The Man of Mode, The Rover, The Way of the World, The Conscious Lovers, She Stoops to Conquer, The School for Scandal), 2nd edn., edited by Scott McMillin (Norton)

Poetry: all students are required to purchase: Eighteenth-Century Poetry: An Annotated Anthology edited by David Fairer and Christine Gerrard (Blackwell).

Satire:John Dryden, The Works of John Dryden (Wordsworth Classics); Alexander Pope, Selected Poetry (Oxford); Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels (any edition).

Prose Fiction: Eliza Haywood, Love in Excess (Broadview); Samuel Richardson, Pamela (Penguin); Henry Fielding, Joseph Andrews and Shamela (Oxford World's Classics).

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6