FORELESER:
Førsteamanuensis Stephen F. Wolfe
KURSBESKRIVELSE:
This course will interrogate three main questions in a study of canonical texts from 1610-1814. First, the connection between "England" and her global territories; second, the connection between "Englishmen" and race; third, the connection between questions of identity as they reveal complex histories of inclusion and exclusion both at the center of empire and in the "colonies". The course will investigate how literary texts configure race, nation, and empire in cultural terms. In addition, different theoretical/methodological models of reading will be used in relation to texts of the Early Modern period and long Eighteenth Century. We will study texts from different genres and modes: autobiographical narrative, poetry, fiction, periodic essays, and a play.
Students taking the course will be expected to participate in the English Department’s project on continual assessment. This means that grades will be calculated partly on the basis of two short papers (each counting 20 per cent of the final grade) written during the term and an oral presentation (counting 10 per cent), all evaluated by the teacher. One of the short papers will be a close textual reading of a passage in one of the first two texts on the reading list. A term paper of approximately 10/12 pages will count for the remaining 50 per cent of the final grade. The teacher in conjunction with an external examiner will evaluate this paper. Due dates for the different projects will be provided at the beginning of the term and is listed on another page of this description.
This course has continuous assessment as one of its goals. Therefore we will need to spend the first part of the course meeting discussing the processes of assessment as well as the methods of assessment for each of the writing projects and oral presentations outlined below.
The teacher and another member of the English department shall evaluate the first two writing projects in the course. Dates for presentation of these projects are listed below. The teacher will evaluate the oral presentation required in the course. The teacher and an external examiner will evaluate the "semesteroppgave" or research essay.
Here are the course requirements and the dates for essays and presentations:
1. Essay one, 20%, 5/6pages, 19 September
2. Essay two, 20%, 5/6pages, 22 October
3. Oral Presentations will be made by students, individually or in small groups, starting 15 October.
4. Semester project/essay, 50%, 10/12pages, 6 December. You will be required to turn in a project summary and thesis statement during the week of 18 November.
We will spend some time before each assignment is due discussing the goals of the assignment, what kind of essay you are being asked to write, and the evaluation criteria for the essay. Also we will compare drafts of essays and you will be required to discuss them with members of the course outside the class meeting times. For questions of documentation (citation of sources) of research and writing essays about literature see Richard Bradford, Introducing Literary Studies, Prentice Hall/Harvester Wheatsheaf.
ECTS credits: 15 (5 Vekttall)
Varighet: 4 timer pr uke i 12 uker
Undervisningsform: Forelesninger, seminarer
Eksamensform: Prosjektoppgave + fortløpende vurdering i løpet av semesteret + muntlig presentasjon
TIMEPLAN:
MANDAG TIRSDAG ONSDAG TORSDAG FREDAG 09.15 - 10.00 10.15 - 11.00 E-202: Marginalized Whiteness. Rom E 1004 E-202: Marginalized Whiteness. Rom E 1004 11.15 - 12.00 12.15 - 13.00 13.15 - 14.00 14.15 - 15.00 15.15 - 16.00
PENSUM:
The Tempest, William Shakespeare. Edited Graff and Phelan ISBN 0-31219766-7
Oroonoko, Aphra Behn. Edited Joanna Lipking ISBN 0-39397014-0
Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe. Edited M. Shinagel ISBN 0-39309231-3 Second
ed.
The History of Mary Prince, Mary Prince. Edited by Sara Salih ISBN 0-14043749-5
Mansfield Park, Jane Austin. Edited by Tonny Tanner ISBN 0-14043016-4
Three Oriental Tales: History of Nourjahad, Vathek, The Giaour. Edited
Richardson ISBN 0-61810731-2
OBLIGATORISK SEKUNDÆRLITTERATUR (bare kapitler):
Theory:
Colonialism/Postcolonialism, Ania Loomba Routledge
Historical/Literary Critical Theory:
Ends of Empire: Women and Ideology in Early Eighteenth-Century Literature,
Laura Brown, Cornell University Press
Torrid Zones: Maternity, Sexuality and Empire in Eighteenth-Century English
Narratives, Felicity Nussbaum John Hopkins University Press
Culture and Imperialism, Edward W. Said Vintage Press
ANBEFALT SEKUNDÆRLITTERATUR:
Brantlinger, Patrick. Fictions of State, Culture, and Credit in Britain,
1694-1994. Cornell University Press, 1996.
The Black Presence in English Literature. Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 1985. Edited by David Dabydeen.
Davis, David Brion. The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture. Cornell
University Press, 1966.
Ferguson, Moira. Colonialism and Gender Relations. Columbia University
Press, 1993.
----- Subject
to Others: British Women Writers and Colonial Slavery, 1670-1834. Routledge,
1992.
Greenblatt, Stephen. "Learning to Curse: Aspects of Linguistic Colonialism in
the Sixteenth Century" in First Images of America: The Impact of the New World
on the Old. University of California Press, 1976. 2 Vols.
Hall, Kim F. Things of Darkness: Economics of Race and Gender in Early Modern
England. Cornell University Press, 1995.
Hulme, Peter. Colonial Encounters: Europe and the Native Caribbean, 1492-1797.
Methuen, 1986.
Makdisi, Sarce. Romantic Imperialism. Cambridge University Press, 1998.
White, Hayden. "The Forms of Wildness: Archaeology of an Idea" in The Wild
Man Within; an Image in Western Thought from the Renaissance to Romanticism.
Study Questions
The Tempest
1. The play begins by frustrating our expectations, the second scene of Act
I does not resolve the consequences of the shipwreck and storm — we have
a shipwreck but the consequences of the action are not performed until Act II.
What is the dramatic function of the second scene of the play? This is where
we will begin our discussion.
2. Prospero dominates the action and dialogue in the play. Examine the ways
in which his verbal and magical power is constructed in the text. What kind
of power is he given and what kind of power does he take for himself or Ariel?
3. Has Prospero stolen power and perhaps the island itself from Caliban? Discuss
this from a political point of view; look at the issue from the perspective
of both Prospero and Caliban.
4. What are the central dramatic conflicts in the play?
5. The uses of magic by Prospero and his servant, Ariel, are critical to resolving
conflicts and thematic issues in the play. Explain the uses of magic both on
the level of plot conflict and on the level of metaphoric presentation of action
and theme.
6. Examine Gonzalo’s speech in Act II, scene I with a great deal of care.
We will start our discussion of the play with in our second meeting with attention
to Act II, scene I, line 143-325 and develop our discussion to include Acts
II and III.
7. It has been suggested that there are three forms of ‘open-eyed’
conspiracy in the play. Examine forms of conspiracy in the play, both from a
political, personal, and historical perspective.
8. Miranda appears to be a marginalized figure in the play but not in the same
way that Caliban and Ariel are. What are the differences and similarities in
her position as “daughter” to the figure of power and authority and
yet not quite equal?