LIT207   Restoration and Eighteenth Century Literature   (20 credits)

Description

This module covers literature from Restoration period (following the return of the monarchy in 1660) to the second half of the Eighteenth Century. This exciting period saw the rise of the novel, the development of a 'print culture' and the professionalisation of a writer's craft. This was the time when women began writing and publishing in significant numbers, as well as acting in theatres. The course raises important questions of what constitutes 'literature' and what we are doing when we engage in literary study. The variety of literature studied on this course is extremely wide. In consultation with your tutor, you will select from a range of texts, including writing from the period of the Civil War and its aftermath, Restoration drama, and poetry ranging from Milton's 'Paradise Lost', to the libertine poetry of Rochester, to the witty 'Augustan' poetry of Pope, Swift and others. You will choose novels by authors such as Behn, Defoe, Richardson, the Fieldings (Henry and Sarah), and Butney and prose essays by male and female writers.

Reading List