Paper #1 and Schedule Changes!

The Paper #1 assignment is below, though it's not due until February 14th. Below that is the revised class schedule, since I made more room for Northanger Abbey. This will change slightly if we have a snow day on Wednesday, but everything will simply move down and I might cut a day on Frankenstein or Wuthering Heights. I'll give you a hard copy of the paper assignment on Wednesday as well. 

Paper #1: The Sleep of Reason 

“Does our education prepare us for such atrocities? Do our laws connive at them? Could they be perpetrated without being known, in a country like this, where social and literary intercourse is on such a footing; where every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies, and where roads and newspapers lay every thing open? Dearest Miss Morland, what ideas have you been admitting?” (Northanger Abbey, Chapter 24).

According to Henry Tilney in the above passage, the horrors of Gothic fiction cannot possibly exist in the “real world,” much less in England, where “social and literary intercourse is on such a footing” and where “newspapers lay every thing open.” Mary Wollstonecraft and Jane Austen, however, would beg to differ. Despite the presence of so many roads and newspapers, many evils are hidden in plain sight, and some of them so wicked that they threaten to destroy the very nature of civilization.

Q: Examining both novels (Maria and Northanger Abbey), what are the greatest evils that people face in English society? Why are they so particularly threatening to women? And why are men often blind to the danger (and thus refuse to protect them)? Are men alone to blame for society’s wickedness, or is it more a struggle of innocence vs. experience?

You might also consider what role the novel plays in educating women against these dangers, and whether or not the two authors agreed in how to solve this problem. Did Wollstonecraft ultimately abandon her novel because she couldn’t find an answer? And is Austen’s too easy or optimistic?

REQUIREMENTS

• At least 3-4 pages, double spaced (but you can do more, of course)
• Must quote from each book (though you can use one more than the other) to examine a specific passage or idea
• No lengthy plot summaries or vague discussions; be specific and use the book to help us ‘see’ your ideas.
• DUE Friday, February 14^th by 5pm [no class that day—enjoy Valentine’s Day if you still can after these books! J ]

REVISED CLASS SCHEDULE: 

February

3          Austen, Northanger Abbey

5          Austen, Northanger Abbey

7          Austen, Northanger Abbey

10        Coleridge, Poems [TBA]

12        Shelley, Frankenstein

14        Paper #1 due by 5pm

17        Shelley, Frankenstein

19        Shelley, Frankenstein

21        Shelley, Frankenstein

24        Context: The Brontes

26        Bronte, Wuthering Heights

28        Bronte, Wuthering Heights

March

2          Bronte, Wuthering Heights

4          Bronte, Wuthering Heights

6          Bronte, Wuthering Heights

9          Context: The Pre-Raphaelites

11        Rossetti, “Goblin Market” [handout]  

13        Paper #2 due by 5pm

SPRING BREAK (16-20)

23        Film: Enchanted April

25        Film: Enchanted April

27        Film Discussion

30        Context: The Colonial Empire

April

1          Mansfield, Stories (TBA)

3          Scissortail Creative Writing Festival

6          Mansfield, Stories (TBA)

8          Mansfield, Stories (TBA)

10        Mansfield, Stories (TBA)

13        Rushdie, “Commonwealth Literature Does Not Exist” [handout]

15        Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea

17        Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea

20        Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea

22        Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea

24        Rhys, from Diaries [handout]

27        Conclusions, Final Discussion

29        No Class: Dead Week

MAY

1          Paper #3 due by 5pm

FINAL EXAM TBA