Student
Introduction
Interview in groups of 3 to 4, and be prepared to
introduce someone else you talked to about their:
- Name
- What do you do in your other job(s)?
- Why are you pursuing an MA in English?
Course
Introduction: The Romantic Movement
- What were French and German authors writing about
before and after Shelley composed Frankenstein?
- harbingers of the European Romanticism
(Rousseau’s Second Discourse, and Goethe’s Sufferings of
Young Werther);
- key texts of the period (Goethe’s Faust, Shelley's Frankenstein,
and Hoffmann's Sandman); poetry by Droste-Hülshoff,
Novalis and Heine;
- and overlooked writers and artists who influenced
major issues of the day like the French Revolution,
colonialism, and women’s rights.
- The class will discuss themes common to Romantic-era
writing, such as nature, utopia, freedom, the grotesque, and
the uncanny across several fictional genres (poetry, drama,
prose, memoir, and novellas). Students will leave the course
with an appreciation for the ways in which literary
movements transcend national and generic borders.
Course
Goals:
- To foster in-depth
critical understanding of the term Romantic,
especially as it relates to the fiction, prose, poetry, and
drama in Britain, France, Germany, and abroad ca. 1780 to
1830;
- To engage students'
understanding of the ways in which writers and artists
influenced socio-political thinking (French
Revolution, colonialism, proto-feminism);
- To teach an appreciation
for the ways in which literary movements transcend national
and generic borders;
- And to move students from
being consumers of knowledge to becoming producers of
knowledge, by encouraging original literary analysis in
essays, exams, and class participation.