HUMA 3300

Reading and Writing Texts: Regency England

Spring 2006 Syllabus

Prof: Pat Michaelson TA: Shazia Ali

Office JO 5.108 JO 5.206
972-883-2767 972-883-2095
pmichael@utdallas.edu shazia@utdallas.edu
hours Thursday 12:45-1:45 hours Tuesday 3:30-4:30
& by appointment & by appointment

This course is designed to enable students to become sophisticated readers of texts

in the different disciplines of arts and humanities and to write cogent and stylish texts of
their own. Students will practice interpretive strategies that are the basis of all reading.
In addition, we will devote considerable attention to constructing clear, convincing, and
elegant arguments in a series of written assignments.
This semester, we will focus on readings from and about Regency England (1811-
1820), a period that saw great changes in literature, art, social customs, and economic
structure. We will see how different kinds of texts address questions like “What is the
nature of ‘woman’?” “Does sex have a history?” “What ‘caused’ the Industrial
Revolution?” “What makes art ‘good’?” and “Do literary works ‘argue’?”

Texts:
Austen, Persuasion (Norton edition)
Shelley, Frankenstein
Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz, Everything’s an Argument
Readings on WebCT (marked *)
Requirements

1. class participation and homeworks (40%)

Come to class having read the material carefully; bring a hard copy with
you. You will be expected to contribute to class discussion each period.
Attendance will be taken, and more than 3 absences will lower your grade.

Homework: once a week, you will hand in a one-page typed reaction to

that day’s reading. You may write on your own topic, or you may
respond to questions that will be posted on WebCT. You may choose
which days to do your homework, but you must do 10 over the course of
the semester and no more than one per week. Homeworks must be handed
in at the beginning of the relevant class.

2. one 4-5-page literature paper, revised (20%)

Students will write an argument about Persuasion on a topic to be
approved by the professor.

3. one 8-10-page research paper, revised (30%)

Students will write an original historical argument about Regency
England, using primary and secondary sources, on a topic to be approved
by the professor.

4. one creative project (10%)

Students will create one Neoclassical and one Romantic painting or
drawing.

There will not be a final exam for this course.

Schedule

1/10 Introduction

Unit 1: What do we ask about literature?

1/12 Austen, Persuasion (1818), chapters 1-10

1/17 Persuasion, chapters 11-18 and

Whateley, “A New Style of Novel”
1/19 Persuasion, chapters 19-24 and original ending and
Litz, “New Landscapes” and
Butler, “On Persuasion”
1/24 Astell, “Anne Elliot’s Education” and
Johnson, “Persuasion: The Unfeudal Tone”
1/26 Lunsford cptrs. 1-3; in-class style workshop
Proposals for literature paper due

1/31 Lunsford cptrs. 4-7; in-class style workshop

Unit 2: Does sex have a history?

2/2 *Stone, from The Family, Sex and Marriage (1979) and
Lunsford cptr. 9

2/7 *Laqueur, from Making Sex (1990)

2/9 *Wollstonecraft, from Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) and
*Duff, Letters on the Intellectual and Moral Character of Women (1807),
table of contents only
Literature paper due

2/14 *Moers, from The Dandy: Brummell to Beerbohm (1960) and

*Burney, “A Mastectomy” (1811)

Unit 3: Was there an Industrial Revolution?

2/16 *Brown, from Society and Econ. in Mod. Brit. (1991) and
*Toynbee, from Lectures on the Ind. Rev. (1884) and
*Clark, from English Society 1688-1832 (1985)

2/21 In-class discussion of literature papers

2/23 *Perkin, from Origins of Mod. Eng. Soc. (1969) and
*Evans, from The Forging of the Modern State (1996) and
Lunsford cptr. 11

2/28 *Hartwell, from The Ind. Rev. and Econ. Growth (1971)
*Hobsbawm, from Industry and Empire (1968) and
Lunsford cptr. 10
Short quiz on the Industrial Revolution readings.
3/2 Lunsford cptrs. 12, 20-22
in class: library tour
Revised literature paper due

Spring break
3/14 *selections from The Life of Robert Owen (1857) and
*Carlyle, from Past and Present (1843)
Proposal for research paper due
3/16 *Shelley, “England in 1819” and
*Wordsworth, “The Old Cumberland Beggar” (1805)

3/21 In-class discussion of proposals

Unit 4: Reading aesthetic “texts”

3/23 *Lovejoy, “The Parallel of Deism and Classicism” (1930)
in class: video on Neoclassical and Romantic art

3/28 *Reynolds, Discourses #1 and 3 (1769-1770) and

*Blake, “Marginalia” on Reynolds (1801-1809)
3/30 *Constable, selected letters (1802-1836)
in class: “reading” paintings
Research paper due

4/4 Lunsford cptrs. 18-19

Short review quiz on Lunsford.
4/6 in class: video on the classical symphony
Haydn Symphony #85 (The Queen; 1786)

4/11 *Solomon, from Beethoven (1977) and

*Burnham, from Beethoven Hero (1995)
Beethoven Symphony #3 (The Eroica; 1804)
Creative project due

Unit 5: Do all texts argue?

4/13 Shelley, Frankenstein (1818), Author’s introduction, Preface, and volume
I (through chapter 8)

4/18 Frankenstein, volume II (cptrs. 9-17)

4/20 Frankenstein, volume III (cptrs 18-end)
Course conclusion
Revised research paper due