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Dr. Jo Alyson Parker
Saint Joseph's University
Many studies have dealt with the way in which the rise of the novel genre in England coincided with the rise of a middle class and the resultant enlarged reading public--including, for the first time, a significant female readership. Recently critics have begun to look at the way in which the novel genre helped define and reinforce gender roles.
This course will look at novels by important male and female writers of the eighteenth century in light of this recent scholarship, paying particular attention to questions of genre, gender, and the connection between them. We will examine such issues as the following: novelistic "realism," the novel's relation to other genres, the establishment of literary authority, the connection between novels and conduct books, the way in which female writers recontextualize the themes and motifs of their male contemporaries, the double-voicedness of women's texts, the hero's defining of self within the public realm, and the heroine's defining of self within the domestic realm.
1) Responses and Portfolio (15%)
At least once a week, you will turn in a response paper. This paper
will consist of a directed response to the readings and a discussion of
questions and/or issues raised by the previous class sessions. We may
also do certain in-class writing assignments. These responses will not
be graded, but they will count toward your overall portfolio grade. All
responses should be turned in on the day they are due; you will not
receive credit for turning in all your responses at the end of the
semester.
At the end of the semester, you will collect all your writing assignments--formal and informal, rough and final drafts--in a manila file folder, titling and dating all inclusions and earmarking for my attention assignments that you feel are particularly representative of your best work. You will also include a self-evaluation wherein you discuss your strengths in the class and the areas that you feel need improvement, your progress, and your opinion of how the work that you have done should be weighted.
2) Participation (10%)
You are expected to participate actively in class discussion,
demonstrating that you have done the reading and responded thoughtfully
to it. I may often call on you to share your responses with the class.
3) Oral Report (10%)
In groups of approximately three students, you will be researching a
particular historical aspect of eighteenth-century life (for example,
the servant class) and giving a 10-15 minute presentation to the class.
4) Creative Paper (15%)
This assignment will involve a creative revision of one of the texts
that we have read this semester. In it, you should demonstrate your
grasp of the pertinent issues that the text raises.
5) Analytical Research Paper (25%)
This assignments requires you to choose a particular text or significant
issue in scholarship on the eighteenth-century novel, formulate an
argument about the text or issue, and utilize secondary sources to
enhance, support, and challenge your argument. We will be receiving
library instruction about research methods.
Because I believe strongly in the writing process, I will ask you to turn in thesis paragraphs or position statements for your upcoming papers. I will try to allot time for peer-editing sessions as well. Once I have returned your graded paper, you must turn in a response to my comments by the following class session. If you opt to do a rewrite, you must do the following: (1) in a meeting with me, discuss specific strategies for revision; (2) attach an explanation of the specific changes you have made, highlight these changes on the revision, and attach your previous draft. A cosmetic revision (that is, one wherein you have merely fixed the mechanical errors) will not result in a change in grade. Rewrites must be completed before the next assignment is due.
6) Examinations (25%)
There will be a midterm worth 100 points and a final worth 200 points.
Computer Accounts:
If you have not already done so, please activate your computer account
at the Barbelin Computer Lab (BL 25). Bring your account number to class
on Friday, so that I can compile a list. I will be establishing an
e-mail alias for the class so that we can communicate outside of regular
class sessions.
All formal paper assignments and tests must be completed in order for you to get credit for the course.
WK 1: The Fair Jilt
WK 2: Pamela, 45-150
WK 3: Pamela, 150-350; "The Rise of the Domestic Woman" in Nancy Armstrong's Desire and the Domestic Novel (on reserve) Paper 1 assigned
WK 4: Pamela, 350-530 Shamela
WK 5: Tom Jones, book 1-6
WK 6: Tom Jones, books 7-12 Research bibliography due
WK 7: Tom Jones, books 13-18 Paper 1 due
WK 8: A Simple Story, 1-60 Midterm
WK 9: A Simple Story, 60-230 "Toward a Feminist Narratology" In Susan Lansers's Fictions of Authority (on reserve) Working thesis for final paper due
WK 10: A Simple Story, 230-338 Maria, 1-25
WK 11: Maria, 25-150
WK 12: Love and Freindship (packet); Mansfield Park, 1-200
WK 13: Mansfield Park, 200-300; "Jane AustenUs Cover Story" in Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar's The Madwoman in the Attic (on reserve)
WK 14: Mansfield Park, 300-432 Final paper due
Sample Assignments for Paper 1, Creative Revision
In a 4-6 page paper, apply what you've learned thus far by "revising"
one of the novels we've read. At the end of your creative treatment,
you should affix a 1-page analysis of how your revision sheds light on the themes, motifs,
or narrative structure of the source text(s).
1. Rewrite an episode of The Fair Jilt with Alcidiana (Miranda's sister) as heroine. You might consider Alcidiana as a sentimental, conduct-book heroine la Pamela.
2. Rewrite an episode of The Fair Jilt or Tom Jones in the epistolary form. You will need to consider who would be sending letters to whom, and how the change in structure might affect our understanding of what is taking place.
3. Rewrite an episode of Pamela from Mr. B's perspective--or from the perspective of one of the other characters, such as Mrs. Jewkes or Mrs. Jervis. Try to take into account distincitions of class and/or gender and how these might affect perceptions.
4. Rewrite an episode of Tom Jones as it might be put forward by a "female" narrator who has taken Sophia as her principle character. You need to think about how the narrator's "voice" and a focus on Sophia would affect our understanding of the material.
Sample Assignment for Paper 2, Analytical Research Paper
Your final paper for this class will be a research paper of
approximately 10-12 pages on one of the texts we are reading this
semester. You will be advancing your own thesis about the text, but you
will draw upon recent scholarship. You will deal with others'
interpretations of the text in order to enhance, support, and/or
challenge your argument. (With this assignment, the students work
through various stages: compiling a working bibliography, fomulating a
thesis, writing the final paper.)
The Fair Jilt: the transgressive heroine and Behn's attitude toward her; gender and narrative voice
Pamela: textuality and sexuality; Pamela as conduct-book heroine; the purity of PamelaUs motives; class negotiation
Tom Jones: the connection between the narrative commentary and Tom's story; the establishment of literary authority; Fielding's "realism"
A Simple Story: the function and effect of the divided text; female transgression; father/daughter relationships
Maria: the multiple endings, Wollstonecraft and sensibility
Mansfield Park: the "dislikable" heroine; Austen as conservative or subversive
Sample Questions for Responses for Homework and/or Brief Essays on Exams
1. In what respects does Miranda (The Fair Jilt) constitute a transgressive heroine, and what is Behn's attitude toward her transgressions?
2. What specific criticisms does Fielding make of Pamela through the parodic Shamela?
3. What are the connections between Tom Jones's plight and that of the novel genre, according to the implicit argument advanced by the narrator of Tom Jones?
4. How does Richardson connect Pamela's sexuality with her "textuality" (her letter-writing)?
5. In what way does "prudence" function as both a negative and a positive quality in Tom Jones? Consider the characters of Blifil and Tom in formulating your answer.
6. What sorts of novelistic conventions does Austen parody in Love and Friendship and to what end?
7. Wollstonecraft gives us several possible endings for Maria. Argue which ending would seem to be in keeping with the overall argument of the text.
8. How is Matilda's behavior in A Simple Story typical of the eighteenth- century conduct-book heroine?
9. How are the characters' various responses to Lovers' Vows paradigmatic of their overall actions in Mansfield Park?
10. What is the significance of Wollstonecraft beginning Maria with her central character confined to a madhouse?
11. According to the implicit argument of Mansfield Park, why can't Fanny Price marry Henry Crawford? (This question asks you to go beyond the obvious answer that he seduces Maria.)
Sample Essay Exam Questions:
1. In a focused, organized essay, compare and constrast the ways in which Pamela and Tom Jones deal with issues of gender and class, considering how the novels might be regarded as constructing, respectively, notions of proper feminine and masculine behavior. You might consider the following questions (but you do not necessarily have to): Do the protagonists negotiate within the private realm (the realm of domestic values) or the public realm? What constitutes heroism in a female protagonist and heroism in a male protagonist? What sort of argument does each novel put forward in regard to issues of gender and class equality: conservative? progresssive? both conservative and progressive in part?
2. Discuss the way in which Pamela prescribes a particular notion of proper female behavior. Then discuss the way in which two of the following support and/or criticize this notion: A Simple Story, Maria, and Mansfield Park.
3. Discuss the way in which Tom Jones puts forward a protagonist who errs, but develops, ultimately reconciling himself to society and renovating it. Then, drawing upon two of the texts we have read in the second half of the semester (A Simple Story, Maria, Mansfield Park), discuss whether such a bildungsroman structure occurs with any of the female protagonists and the implications of its absence or presence.