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British Literary Traditions (210-1-01)

Instructors

Helen F Thompson

Meeting Info

Shepard Hall B25: Mon, Wed 11:00AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

This class surveys major texts in the development of English literature from the epic Beowulf (c. 750 - 950) 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 develop tools for approaching 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 approach 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 transoceanic travel, exploitation, and mercantile capitalist trade in the development of English literary forms.

Class Materials (Required)

Required Texts (at Norris Bookstore):

Aphra Behn, Oroonoko: or, The Royal Slave. Ed. Joanna Lipking. Norton Critical Edition. ISBN: 978-0393970142
Beowulf, A Verse Translation, trans. Seamus Heaney. Ed. Daniel Donoghue. Second Norton Critical Edition (2019). ISBN: 978-0393938371
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. Ed. V. A. Kolve and Glending Olson. Third Norton Critical Edition (2018). ISBN: 978-1324000563
John Milton, Paradise Lost. Ed. Gordon Teskey. Norton Critical Edition (2005). ISBN: 978-0393924282
Thomas More, Utopia. Ed. George M. Logan. Third Norton Critical Edition (2011). ISBN: 978-0393932461
William Shakespeare, The Tempest. Ed. Peter Hulme and William H. Sherman. Second Norton Critical Edition (2019). ISBN: 978-0393265422
optional: Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, The African. Ed. Werner Sollars. Norton Critical Edition (2000). ISBN: 978-0-393-97494-2
optional: Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels. Ed. Albert J. Rivero. Norton Critical Edition. ISBN: 978-0-393-95724-2

Note: Readings from Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Equiano's Interesting Narrative will be available on Canvas.

Note: For more affordable digital versions of these editions, please purchase from:

https://wwnorton.com/norton-critical-edition-ebooks

Class Attributes

Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
SDG Reduced Inequality
SDG Gender Equality