This Course will next be offered in Spring 2026: 

ENGL 46B

CRN: 73451 Section 931

Survey of Lit in English 2 (online)

Catalog Description

ENGL 46B. Survey of Literature in English, Part 2: Late-17th through the Mid-19th Century (3).

A survey of important literature written in English, from the Restoration through Neo-Classicism and Romanticism to the Early Victorian period. No part of the ENGL 46 series is prerequisite to any other part. 

Instructor's Added Description

This survey covers roughly 1660-1860. In Fall 2024, we will be focusing on how The Age of Reason spawned the often wildly and self-consciously irrational modes of the Gothic and Romantic. Isaac Newton developed integral calculus and three fundamental laws of physics, yet he also believed in the occult and practiced alchemy. Seem absurd? Such contradictions abound in human history and particularly so in the period we shall study. As narratives become more orderly, plots more structured than ever, they also become populated with demon, succubus and lamia, with sublime natural forces, and with the mysteries of mesmerism and ventriloquism. Imagination encompasses the rational and irrational. We will read stories, essays, and poems enlivened by both and often struggling between the two. Cultural lenses will include race and empire, gender, science and technology.

Prerequisites/corequisites/advisories

Completion of English 1A with a C or better, or placement in English 1B/1C.

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, a student will be able to:

1. Identify the major genres, themes, and textual concerns of literature in English from 1660-1850.

2. Analyze individual texts in relation to the significant historical, cultural, and social issues of literature in English from 1660-1850.

3. Analyze the content and formal structures of representative literature in English from 1660-1850.

4. Integrate textual evidence and literary criticism when writing essays on key works of literature in English from 1660-1850.

Class Meetings

This is a fully online course with no scheduled class meetings.

Course Web Site

You will use the Canvas Learning Management system for assignment instructions, submitting assignments, viewing classmates' work, sharing resources, and viewing grades.  I can help with the course material and with some Canvas issues. But, if you need help uploading an assignment or with the mechanics of Canvas, you should reach out to Canvas help. 

Textbooks  

There are no "official" textbooks for this course. But we will be doing a lot of reading!

Where to start?

To begin, you might want to think about what form of text you’ll be reading: digital or paper copies. Since all of our texts are long past copyright protection, they can all be found free online in digital form; I tend to use the Project Gutenberg Website. If you want a paper copy, Dover Books editions are often the cheapest, but used versions of any edition are often very inexpensive. Many of the poems, short stories and essays we will be reading are available in many different collections and anthologies. Again, all are easily found online at no cost. If you are an English Major, you may want to invest in the monumental Norton Anthology of English Literature (3 volumes), which includes many canonical texts as well as historical, cultural and critical supplements that are very informative and helpful. I will be providing some of this material in my Reflections, but if you want more depth, the Norton Anthology is a standard in the discipline.

Some of you may also like to take advantage of audio book versions of our reading. This is a perfectly fine alternative, and since most of our texts are classic titles, they are often readily available in audio formats. 

If you would like to track down some books ahead of time, here is a list of the longer texts we will be reading. The texts are listed in the order we will read them in class, accompanied by their Dover Print Edition ISBN:

• Aphra Behn, Oroonoko 9780486814834

• Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe 9780486404271

• Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey 9780486414126

• Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass 9780486284996

• Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights 9780486292564

Field Trips

None.

Important Dates

There are no required meetings for this course. Midterm and Final exams are taken online, within a window of completion.

• Start and End Dates

• September 3, 2024 - December 20, 2024

• Important Dates

• Last day to add: September 20, 2024

• Last day for refund: September 12, 2024

• Last day to drop without W: September 20, 2024

• Last day to drop with W: November 21, 2024

• Last day to elect pass/no pass: 21-NOV-24

Dropping the Class

• First of all, I do not want you to drop the class. Please contact me immediately if you have any headwinds that are blowing so hard they are threatening to knock you off course. 

• I will work with you to come up with a plan that will enable you to stay in the course and succeed. However, if you find yourself still needing to drop the course, be aware that the date when you drop the class can variously affect your transcript and finances. 

• If you decide to discontinue this course, it is your responsibility to officially drop it to avoid getting no refund (after 10% of course length), a W symbol (after 20%), or a grade (after 60%). Typically, I only drop students myself at the beginning of the semester, if they are a no-show or miss several assignments in a row, in order to make room for other students who want to add. 

• In order not to be dropped as a No-Show, you will need to complete the Check-in Discussion by the end of the seventh calendar day after the class begins. 

• In order not to be dropped after your initial activity in the course, you must also participate in the first Oroonoko Discussion by the end of the fourteenth calendar day after the class begins.

Course Syllabus