Interview in groups of 3 to 4, and be prepared to introduce
someone else you talked to about their:
Name
Major
How do you like to express yourself (e.g., art, music,
writing, performance/theater/dance, cooking, sports, etc.)?
Course Introduction: European Romantic Movement
What
were
French
and
German authors writing about before and after Shelley
composed Frankenstein?
The European Romantic
Movement aims to foster
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. We will read harbingers of the European
Romanticism
(Rousseau’s Confessions, 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.
Satisfies
pre-1900 (1b), 3 (fiction) and TE 3c, multinational (4a), class
(4e)
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.
Course Requirements:
#2: Participation (10%): Incl.
regular attendance, contribution to class discussion, discussion
questions,
peer review, in-class and online writing assignments that occur in a
timely manner.
Attendance
policy:
Students must attend a majority of class sessions in order to pass the
class; long-term and repeated absences are unacceptable. Your first
3 absences are automatically excused and need no explanation
please. Beyond that, you will need a note from your physician or the
Dean of Students in order to excuse an absence for medical reasons or
family death. Attendance is a part of your Participation Grade,
which is also determined by your active and enthusiastic participation
in class discussions; original and thought-provoking discussion
questions; and informal writing assignments. Please make a friend in
class to cover material missed while absent.
Discussion questions: Discussion
questions
(called
DISC.
below)
must
be
ORIGINAL
and
include
either
ones
you
would
pose
as
an
instructor
of
the
class,
things
you
are
confused
about
in
the reading, or a mix between the two. The purpose of discussion
questions is to open a dialogue
between you and me; to make this a student-centered classroom; and to
help students become better writers by becoming critical thinkers, or
people who question what they read. Discussion questions are not
mandatory but are taken
into consideration for your Participation Grade. Post discussion
questions on
Blackboard/Discussion Board and bring a copy to class if we are meeting
there.
#3:
Comparative
Paper
(Topic/description
TBA) on 2 texts from Unit I--Sentimental
Revolutions:
Rousseau,
Werther,
and
Romantic
Poetry
(30%)
JOURNALS: Students will write at least one
entry for nearly every
text we read. For a close analysis, copy a key passage (3-5 lines) and
then write a 1-2 page close
analysis and argue for its
meaning and importance (250-400 words: word count begins
after the quote). Creative responses should
likewise focus on a specific textual passage, although may fit this
citation in the text elsewhere. You are
encouraged to
use these entries as an opportunity to learn how to track key themes,
techniques, or issues in a literary text. Journals are
not graded until they are presented in as a Midterm Review, and a Full
and Final Journal Portfolio (see below). Post your response to
Blackboard/Discussion when it is due, so that other students can
learn
from your work. If you post your
response at the time it is due, then I will comment on your "mini
essay" there. Owing to scheduling
difficulties, I am afraid I am NOT
able to read late journal entries,
although I do expect to see them Midterm Review, and a Full and
Final Journal Portfolio.
If you are unable to turn in your journal on time, I suggest you
ask a fellow student to read and evaluate the work-in-progress. Always
include a Works Cited of all sources cited and referenced.
#4:
Mid-term
Review
of
Journals
(10%): Hand in hard
copies of at least 3 of the 4 journals you have written so far.
Paginate and staple please. No cover pages or folders please.
#5:
Full
and
Final
Journal
Portfolio
(20%): The Full and Final Journal Portfolio
includes a critical
intro.; 5, 6, or 7 originals;
+
at
least 1 revision that highlights
your
editing
skills.
To
be
presented
on
day
of
final
exam.
What do rights do you think are essential for humans?
- freedom of expression - right to read, write, and get an
education - right to make your own decisions as
long as they don't cause harm - right to procreate - right to privacy - right to food, shelter, and water - right to health care - right to defend yourself
Which of these rights
do you think are worth fighting your government
for?
Do you agree or disagree with Rousseau that society corrupts men and women?
Review of Week 1:
-Key
value of Romanticism: universalism
–
the idea or belief that we all share experiences, feelings, and rights
-France
banned Social Contract (1762) because
it questioned rule by one sovereign (ruler) and called for a democratic
republic
Nature
vs. Society debate:
MB: “To me, other citizens
create
regulations that are sort of unspoken and unaccepted, not necessarily
legally,
but in society's eyes.”
WN: “Yes, these are called
customs, or Rousseau would call
them mores--moral practices of
a group.”
AG: “I think Rousseau is right
when he says men and women fail to produce their own thoughts when
placed in a
society. There is no real original thought, just thought either for, or
against
the society, but the society still lingers. Kind of like the idea that
Jesus
could be the only Christian, because it was his idea against
society. But
I think what you're saying is that because we have this society, are
ideas are
judged by it as bad or good? Society being the [sole] judge? I
don't know.
I'm just trying to get off the milk farm in Swansea. I've been up since
five
helping my dad make butter.”
WN: “Yes, social change is
difficult when most of the day is spent with hard labor.”
-Citizenship
discussion: remember that citizenship was limited in the eighteenth
century,
often to white, male property holders
Interpretive Argument:
Please cite/discuss texts when directed to
Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen,
France (1789)
- inspired by US Declaration of Independence
- France has renewed and/or revised its
constitution five times since 1789. It is now served by the fifth
Republic.
Olympe de Gouges, Declaration
of
the
Rights
of
Woman
and
Citizen
-Text
was largely ignored / not passed as law
-Gouges finally
beheaded for her outspoken politics, particularly her belief in
constitutional monarchy.
Rights of women in French
Revolution:
-civil
marriage and divorce granted in 1791, but then repealed by Napoleon in
1804
-women
at first allowed to form political groups, and then banned from doing
this in
1793
NB: “Women have done more harm
than good. Constraint and dissimulation have been their lot. What force
has
robbed them of, ruse returned to them; they had recourse to all the
resources
of their charms, and the most irreproachable persons did not resist
them.
Poison and the sword were both subject to them; they commanded in crime
as in
fortune. The French government, especially, depended throughout the
centuries
on the nocturnal administrations of women; the cabinet kept no secret
from
their indiscretion; ambassadorial post, command, ministry, presidency,
pontificate, college of cardinals; finally, anything which
characterizes the
folly of men, profane and sacred, all have been subject to the cupidity
and
ambition of this sex, formerly contemptible and respected, and since
the
revolution, respectable and scorned” (Gouges).
--> Attempts to
counteract suspicions that when women have power, they manipulate men.
Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, raised suspicions
about this. Gouges sought to reeducate Marie Antoinette. Gouges desired
women
to
act
transparently, a value that Rousseau
shared.
Gouges offers a concrete social
plan for
women:
-a
way to share property
-make
the care of prostitutes and unwed mothers better
How much does telling the truth mean to you? Do you think Rousseau
is telling the truth to his readers in Confessions? Why or why not?
flasher,
sadomasochist
object
of
aristocratic
women's
desire
convert to
Catholicism skeptic, nonchalant believer, worships nature
clings to people
wanderer
thief
?
--> What is his true sentiment?
- shame, remorse
Review:
Cult
of
sensibility
•sensibility
=
refers
to
"quickness
and
acuteness
of
apprehension
or
feeling;
the
quality
of
being
easily and strongly affected by emotional influences;
sensitiveness"
(OED 5a). The cult of sensibility reversed stereotypical roles normally
accorded
men and women.
•Pre-1770:
Head and
intellect = maleness, heart and body = female
•Post
1770: Men
associate more with feeling and sensibility, and in comparison to men,
women seem
cold and incapable of true sentiment
Gender
Stereotypes
Rom.
Era
Female
Male
•Irrational
•Receptive,
passive
•Cold,
unfeeling
•Fall into
fixed
roles: virgin, mother, whore
•Can
puppet or imitate
knowledge
•Rational
•Active
•Possess
true
sensibility
•Can take
on unlimited
roles in society and imagination
•True
intellectuals
and scholars with deep understanding of knowledge
Naive
View
Ironic
view
Werther
bourgeois hero,
proto-existentialist (“between being and non-being,” 67), authentic
lover
overly sentimental, unable
to see Lotte for her true self, a “sick” romantic (to Heinrich: “how I
envy your melancholy,” 70)
Lotte
mother of nine children (and Werther), a young woman who had to grow up
quickly, a beautiful soul (“a refined feminine soul,” 79)
a coquette who flirts with men (17, 61) and draws them (siren-like) to
the brink of madness (Heinrich, 71), loves having W. around but won’t
even give him away to one of her friends (83)
"Little Rose on the Heath"
a poem about a boy plucking a flower
a poem about a boy raping a girl
Other points to consider in the beginning of
Faust:
-Prelude in theater like prologues for Romantic drama
- How Goethe portrays the Lord in Prologue in Heaven
What's
Romantic
about
Faust?
Earth Spirit -- nature
supernatural
emotion (Faust and Gretchen)
Goethe's Pantheism
skeptical about traditional beliefs
"two souls" -- split feelings between the
conscious/unconscious, earthly/spiritual, naive/romantic sevles
suicidal thoughts
importance of knowledge
linden tree (950)
feelings of genius
set in Middle Ages
Review of 3/31:
Why is Faust attracted to Helena of Troy?
Beauty and prestige
Wants to be godlike, and all men want her (6540/186)
She's harder to get than Gretchen, and more of a challenge
Significance: Merging of Classical world (Helena) and German one
(Faust)
→ Importance for German authors in writing themselves into the
Classical tradition
= justifying the cultural importance of Germany
= justifying the importance of themselves as a nation
Classicism denotes a philosophical viewpoint as well. For Jane K.
Brown, Helena embodies not only beauty but also "the beginning of
history" (168).
> > Acknowledges history as a process of change, and the
impermanence of aesthetic ideals
Author of satirical, epic-length poems Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
(1812-18) and Don Juan (1821-23),
which
refer
to
events from his scandalous life.
Goethe references his play Sardanapalus (1821), dedicated to
Goethe (10175/290).
Notorious personal life: allegedly had sex with his
half-sister, Augusta; fathered Claire Clairmont’s (Mary Godwin
Shelley’s half-sister) child, Allegra; and one of his former lovers,
Caroline Lamb, called him “mad, bad, and dangerous to know”
The Byronic hero has come to mean someone who is extremely
proud, haughtily disdainful, solitary, a romantic dreamer and idealist
contemptuous of the ordinary world
In 1823, he went to Greece to fight in their war of
independence but died a mundane death: by fever, and loss of blood from
leeches at the age of 36.
After Byron’s death, Goethe commented: “It is undoubtedly a
misfortune that minds so rich in ideas should be so set on realizing
their ideals and bringing them into real life. That simply will not do.
The ideal and ordinary reality must be rigorously kept apart” (Brown
212-13)
Atara Stein defined the Byronic hero as follows:
"Self-reliance, autonomy, the creation of one's own moral code,
isolation, disdain of society, self-absorption, a strong sense of his
own superiority, very poor social skills, a guilty past, a mood of
almost perpetual gloom and brooding, dark hair, dark clothes, piercing
eyes, and a distinct heritage from the Gothic villain. Ambition,
curiosity about "forbidden" knowledge, supernatural powers or extremely
superior skills, asceticism, a violent temper, self-pity, inability to
empathize with others, aspiration beyond his condition, aka a desire to
transcend the human condition, individualism to an extreme, actually
*everything* to an extreme as Byron says of Napoleon, a strong sense of
responsibility for his own actions, defiance of institutional
authority, *will,* he's an outcast, arrogance, ruthlessness, and a
paradoxical admiration of the values and lives of ordinary humans.”
Similarities between Byron, Faust, Maturin's John Melmoth in Melmoth the Wanderer (1820), and
even perhaps other protagonists we will be reading soon (Viktor
Frankenstein in M. Shelley's Frankenstein,
Nathaniel
in
The Sandman):
- all gothic hero-villains
- Who is the "Romantic hero"?
meaning protagonists in Romantic-era texts (1780 - 1830)
Are we supposed to take them seriously?
Are they good guys or bad guys?
Works
Cited:
Brown, Jane K. Goethe's Faust: The
German Tragedy. Ithaca and London: Cornell UP, 1986. Print.
Who am I?
STAND UP and ask yes or no
questions in order to find out your
identity. (Am I human? male? female? still alive in Act IV? Do I appear
in Act I? etc.). When you're finished, you may sit down.
(NdB):
“Does
the supernatural have a power greater
than that of a man? What is the power the authors of the Romantic Era
give to
their "supernatural characters" in their works?”
(AG):
“The
point of The Sandman is to show
the mundane behind the supernatural, and how our imaginations are the
only
thing supernatural in our natural world.”
(AS):
“I
feel that humans recognize divine power when all other powers fail.”
(DK):
“The
Sandman shows the supernatural as a figment of man's imagination.”
Gender:
(MG):
“Gretchen
possesses innocence and virtue and
Faust is attracted to her because of this like Rousseau.Gretchen and women are placed into the
domestic role in Faust Part I, Garden.Mephistopheles states: "An honest wife, a home and hearth, /
They
say, is more than gold and jewels worth." (Goethe 87).Here Mephistopheles is enforcing the
idea that women belong in the home and the use of the word honestly
falls in
line with virtue.
(AS):
“It
is evident that the lack of sensibility in Goethe's Faust and the
overwhelming
amount of it in Werther, it seems that Goethe is trying to say that men
should
not act like women, but then again, they should not treat women poorly.
Goethe
condemns his character for such actions--Werther is driven to obsession
by
Lotte and kills himself because he cannot be with her. Faust can never
find
happiness in love because he does not treat those he loves well.”
(NdB):
“What
does
having the label male of female mean in the Romantic Era? Is
dominance
associated with males and beauty for women? What more does gender
entail that
makes it so important to these stories?”
(KY):
“Society's
definition of being a woman is to not excel more than a man
and having domestic responsibilities.Women should emotionally and mentally provide for her man but
not
financially.”
(NS):
“Faust
would like to be with both of the
women but for nothing more than their beauty and innocence; it has
nothing to
do with their personality or what they are capable of doing. I
strongly
believe that what Goethe tries to portray for us is that the man is
stronger
than the woman.”
(DK)
“Soon, Nathanial falls in love with
Olympia, an automaton who's only words are "ah-ah". It becomes clear
that Nathanial, like Faust prizes a woman looks beautiful, but has no
depth or
agency. Faust does not transgress conventional notions of gender
identity and
so he is admitted into heaven. On the other hand, Hoffman depicts
Nathanial as
a damsel in distress and on account of his frail mind never escapes his
mental
illness.”
(JM):
“Helen of Troy seems to dominate their
relationship because she is a mystical being. Helen of Troy seems to
control
Faust behavior. Margarete suffered and had to go through hardships when
she had
a child by Faust.”
(AG):
"Adam's first wife. Beware, Yield
not to the allure of those fair tresses!/Her Sole adornment is her
lovely hair;
Once a young man is captured in that snare,/ He is not soon released
from her
caresses" (Goethe 4120)
(MB): “If eighteenth society starts gossiping
about someone
(a man seen in bed with another man), then their reputation will
crumble and
they won't have much power.”
(KO): “ Men tend to be more masculine, that
is, coarse,
emotionless, head of the household, working to take care of the family.
Women tend to be more feminine, that is soft and caring, taking
care of
the children and family. However these lines by no means apply to
everyone.”
(EM): “ To act
like a man is
to act like a protector, to be the hero and the person in charge. To
act like a
female is to need rescue and to be shy and be delicate and pretty.
These are
roles that each gender should play since it is normal and accepted, but
once
someone starts to act different people think it is odd and that this
being
different is bad.”
Nature
(MG):
“Humans
educated by nature act very naïve, as though they are blind to the
truths of
society and their lives. The
Sufferings of Young Werther depict Werther as ignorant to the true
intentions of Lotte.“
PB:
“That is
what is monstrous about nature- it could rip a person to shreds. The
urge to
prevail overcomes the urge to be a good person. Faust was willing to
have
others die for his power. Nature teaches us to be patient and kind and
to take
others into consideration, but often this particular side of nature is
ignored.”
MB: “People who are educated by nature are
innocent.”
KL: “The emotions that we feel can at times over
take our
actions which is a montrous thing.”
Review
- Question to think about for final exam: What
romantic values does Frankenstein embody?
In what ways might Frankenstein be read as a critique of Romanticism and its
well-known (male) proponents?
• nature vs. civilization
• the danger of ego and pursuit of ambition
- Discussion about Vol. I of
Frankenstein:
• Double-ness of characters (Walton/Frankenstein;
Frankenstein/monster; Elizabeth/Frankenstein; Justine/mother) and
narrative style (frame narrative, point of view)