English 551 Romantic Historicism

Spring 1998, W 1:30-4:20

Esther Schor, x408O, eschor@princeton.edu
32a McCosh: M 3:00-4:30; T, Th 1:30-3:00 and by appt.

I Texts--available at Micawber (except 551 Reader, see below)

Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France (Penguin)
Paine, Thomas. The Rights of Man (Penguin)
Wollstonecraft, Mary. Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Penguin)
Wordsworth, William. Poems, Vol. II (Penguin)
Wordsworth, William. The Prelude: 1799, 1805, 1850 (Norton)
Scott, Walter. Old Mortality (Penguin)
Shelley, Mary. Valperga (Oxford)
Mellor, Anne and Richard Matlak. British Literature 1780-1830 (Harcourt) [M&M]
English 551 Reader--Available at Pequod, 6 Nassau Street, 921-7888 [R]

II Readings:

W Feb 4: Introduction: Historicisms

Godwin, William. "Of History and Romance" (1797?)

Edgeworth, Maria. Preface to Castle Rackrent (1800)

Southey, Robert. "The Battle of Blenheim" (1798)

Barbauld, Anna Letitia. "Eighteen Hundred and Eleven" (1812)

W Feb 11: The French Revolution 1: Reflections

M&M: "Society and Political Economy" 85-8

M&M: "The French Revolution and the Rights of Man" 9-12

Price, Richard. "Discourse on the Love of our Country" (1789/90) (R)

Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

W Feb 18: The French Revolution II: Vindications

Paine, Thomas. Rights of Man (1791)--Pt 1; Pt II, chs. I and 4.

Wollstonecraft, Mary. Vindication of the Rights of Woman(1792), Intro, Chs. 1-4, 8-13

Wordsworth, William. "Letter to the Bishop of Llandaff '(1793) (R)

W Feb 25: Varieties of Historiography

Hume, David. from A History of England (1754-6 1) (R)

Clarkson, Thomas. from History ... of Abolition (1808) (M&M 75-81)

Prince, Mary. from The History of Mary Prince (1831) (M&M 868-880)

Macaulay, Thomas Babington. "Milton" (1825) (R)

Carlyle, Thomas. "The French Revolution" (1837) (R)

W Mar 4: William Wordsworth, Dorothy Wordsworth: "Little Platoons"

Wordsworth, W. Preface to "Lyrical Ballads" (1800) (M&M 573-580)

The Prelude (1805), Books I-IV, VII, IX-X, XII 313-379, XIII 1-119

Wordsworth, D. The Narrative of George and Sarah Green (1808)

Collingwood, R. G. from The Idea of History 231-249 (R)

W Mar 11: W. Wordsworth: The Excursion (1814)

Certeau, Michel de. from The Writing of History 1-55 (R)

Spring Break

W Mar 25: Keats: "The Lapses of Time"

Percy, Thomas. from Reliques (R)--optional

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," "Christabel" (M&M)

Keats. "How Many Bards," "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer," "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles," "LaBelle Dame" (both versions), Eve of St. Agnes (1820) Odes (1820), Hyperion: A Fragment (1820); The Fall of Hyperion (1819) (M&M)

White, Hayden. from "Metahistory" 30-63 (R)

W Apr 1: The Historical Novel I

Scott, Walter. Old Mortality (1816)

Lukács, Georg. from The Historical Novel (30-63) (R)

W Apr 8: Romantic Drama I

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. The Cenci (1819) (M&M 1067-110 1)

Shelley, P. B. "An Address to the People" (1817) (R)

Greenblatt, Stephen. " Towards a Poetics of Culture " 1- 14 (R)

Wordsworth, Ann. "Derrida and Foucault" 116-125 (R)

W Apr 15: Romantic Drama II

Byron, George Gordon Lord. Marino Faliero (182 1) (R); Cain (182 1) (R)

Lyotard, Jean-Francois. "The Sign of History" 162-180 (R)

W Apr 22: The Historical Novel II

Shelley, Mary. Valperga (1823)

Cook, Albert. from HistorylWriting 15-30 (R)

W Apr 29: Hemans and Landon: Continental Records

M&M selections by Hemans (1179-1247) and Landon (1-3 77-140 1)

Carlyle, "On History" (1830) (R)

III Assignments:

Two brief seminar-starters (1 -2 pp.)
One summary of a critical reading (from Part II of the Reader) posted on email, with questions
One oral presentation on a volume of the Annual Register (10- 15 mins.)
A final paper of c. 20pp, due during reading period