EN2B5/EN3B5 Seventeenth Century: The First Modern Age of English Literature
This module is running in 2019/20.
Module credits: 30 CATs
Module Outline
This module examines the writing produced during one of the most exciting periods of English history. During the seventeenth century there were two revolutions and huge constitutional changes. It witnessed a significant widening of political and literary classes. On this module we will read a variety of canonical and non-canonical writing from 1603 to 1688 with the aim of finding out how works produced in different historical conditions commented on and intervened in these major ideological and intellectual upheavals.
The module in 2020-21 will be structured chronologically. Topics we may address could include: early modern understandings of the relationship between place, memory, and identity; the writing of revolutionary political change and apocalypticism; and the increase in women's authorship. Each week, we will look at primary texts in light of some contextual further reading from the period (a piece of political theory by Machiavelli, say, or some writing on early modern poetics). There will also be selected secondary readings each week to help you locate your own critical investigations within the exciting field of seventeenth-century studies.
Lecture and Seminar Times
1 x 1hr lecture - Monday 1:00-2:00. R1.03
1 x 1hr seminar - Monday 3:00-4:00; Thursday 10:00 - 11:00.
Pathway Information
This module is a Pathway approved Option for the English Pathway and one of the Distributional Requirements options for the Theory, World, and North American Pathways.
Syllabus
Reading List (2019-20)
NB. There may be some small changes to the syllabus for 2020-21. These will be advertised by the end of Term 3.
The module reading list for essential primary sources and recommended secondary sources can be found on Tallis Aspire here.
We will read the primary texts in the following editions and anthologies, which you should purchase:
- The Broadview Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Verse and Prose eds. Joseph Black, Alan Rudrum, and Holly Faith Nelson (Broadview, 2000).
- Oroonoko, The Rover, and other works ed. Janet Todd (Penguin, 2003).
- Three Seventeenth-Century Plays on Women and Performance eds. Sophie Tomlinson, Hero Chalmers, and Julie Sanders (Manchester, 2006) - nb. make sure you get the paperback edition!
- Three Restoration Comedies ed. Galmini Salgado (Penguin, 1986).
- Thomas Shadwell, The Virtuoso ed. Marjorie Hope Nicholson (Regents Restoration Drama, 1966).
It will be helpful for you to have a good grasp of seventeenth-century history on this module. If you wish to do some preparatory reading in this area over the summer, we continue to recommend Mark Kishlansky, A Monarchy Transformed (Penguin, 1997) as an accessible narrative of the period from 1603 to 1688.
Assessment
Objectives and outcomes
By the end of this module you should have:
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knowledge of seventeenth-century literature from a variety of genres (e.g. public drama, masque, verse satire, essays).
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knowledge of the different written mediums used by writers in the period and the contexts where their work was seen or read.
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understanding of how and why different seventeenth-century writers engaged with their particular historical (e.g. political, religious and theological, social or literary) contexts.
- developed skills in interpreting literary texts in their historical context.
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understanding of key arguments from secondary criticism that are relevant to the period’s literature.
