Course description:
In this class, we will be exploring the fascinating literature and history of the English Restoration. Our period of study begins in 1660, the year King Charles II was restored to the throne. This is also the year the English stage was opened once more (after being banned for 18 years). The literary community grew exponentially under Charles II’s morally lose regime. Known for his innumerable mistresses and his ever-present pack of spaniels, Charles II encouraged sexually explicit comedy and gossip among both the men and women of the court. The texts we will study in this class represent just a small taste of the bawdy jokes, backstage dramas, and questionable morals that abound in Restoration literature. Yet even as the raucous fun on the stage seeped into diaries, poetry, and fiction, authors still explored important aspects of the political and social status of England and Great Britain. The authors we will study may include: Mary Astell, Aphra Behn, Margareth Cavendish, John Drydern, the Earl of Rochester, Anne Finch, Samuel Pepys, Katherin Philips, and William Wycherley among others. Through reading, short response papers, historical research, and a larger textual analysis, we will discover how interconnected the serious moral discussions were with the vibrant and bawdy jokes of the English Restoration.
Course requirements:
- Papers and Assignments: This course will require you to turn in 4 short (2-3 page) response papers, a 3-4 page historical research paper, and an 8-10 page textual analysis.
- Texts: There are no required texts for this section of ENG 270. All readings can be accessed online.
- Other: Regular online access is essential to this course because, in the spirit of processed-base writing and collaboration, we will be doing several online group workshops that will be time-sensitive. All announcements, assignments, readings, resources, and other communications will also be online.