British Literary Traditions (210-1-01)
Instructors
Helen F Thompson
Meeting Info
University Hall 122: Tues, Thurs 9:30AM - 10:50AM
Overview of class
This class surveys major texts in the development of English as global and imperial literature from the epic Beowulf (c. 700) to Olaudah Equiano's Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1788). A central goal of the class is to approach literary texts as creative expressions as well as challenging reflections on society, power, knowledge, and difference. The millennium-long sweep of English 210 will help us appreciate literature not as escapism but as challenging social thought articulated by means of new representational forms. We will pay special attention to the role of transatlantic travel and imperial exploitation in the development of English literary forms.
The class is structured by key texts accompanied by corollary short readings. Central readings (some excerpted) include: Beowulf; Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales; Thomas More, Utopia; William Shakespeare, The Tempest; John Milton, Paradise Lost; Aphra Behn, Oroonoko; Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels; Olaudah Equiano, Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. (All texts will be available digitally through Northwestern Library.)
Teaching Method
Lecture with weekly discussion sections
Class Materials (Required)
Aphra Behn, Oroonoko: or, The Royal Slave. Ed. Joanna Lipking.
Norton Critical Edition. ISBN: 978-0-393-97014-2
Beowulf, A Verse Translation, trans. Seamus Heaney. Ed. Daniel
Donoghue. Second Norton Critical Edition (2019). ISBN: 978-0-393-93837-1
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. Ed. V. A. Kolve and
Glending Olson. Third Norton Critical Edition (2018). ISBN: 978-1-324-00056-3
John Milton, Paradise Lost. Ed. Gordon Teskey. Norton Critical
Edition (2005). ISBN: 978-0-393-92428-2
Thomas More, Utopia. Ed. George M. Logan. Third Norton
Critical Edition (2011). ISBN: 978-0-393-93246-1
William Shakespeare, The Tempest. Ed. Peter Hulme and William
H. Sherman. Second Norton Critical Edition (2019). ISBN: 978-0-393-26542-2
Overview of class
This class surveys major texts in the development of English as global and imperial literature from the epic Beowulf (c. 700) to Olaudah Equiano's Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1788). A central goal of the class is to approach literary texts as creative expressions as well as challenging reflections on society, power, knowledge, and difference. The millennium-long sweep of English 210 will help us appreciate literature not as escapism but as challenging social thought articulated by means of new representational forms. We will pay special attention to the role of transatlantic travel and imperial exploitation in the development of English literary forms.
The class is structured by key texts accompanied by corollary short readings. Central readings (some excerpted) include: Beowulf; Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales; Thomas More, Utopia; William Shakespeare, The Tempest; John Milton, Paradise Lost; Aphra Behn, Oroonoko; Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels; Olaudah Equiano, Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. (All texts will be available digitally through Northwestern Library.)
Teaching Method
Lecture/Discussion
Class Materials (Required)
Aphra Behn, Oroonoko: or, The Royal Slave. Ed. Joanna Lipking.
Norton Critical Edition. ISBN: 978-0-393-97014-2
Beowulf, A Verse Translation, trans. Seamus Heaney. Ed. Daniel
Donoghue. Second Norton Critical Edition (2019). ISBN: 978-0-393-93837-1
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. Ed. V. A. Kolve and
Glending Olson. Third Norton Critical Edition (2018). ISBN: 978-1-324-00056-3
John Milton, Paradise Lost. Ed. Gordon Teskey. Norton Critical
Edition (2005). ISBN: 978-0-393-92428-2
Thomas More, Utopia. Ed. George M. Logan. Third Norton
Critical Edition (2011). ISBN: 978-0-393-93246-1
William Shakespeare, The Tempest. Ed. Peter Hulme and William
H. Sherman. Second Norton Critical Edition (2019). ISBN: 978-0-393-26542-2
Class Attributes
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
SDG Reduced Inequality
SDG Gender Equality
Associated Classes
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