Course information |
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Title |
British Classicism: Literature and Arts in 18th-Century Britain |
Lecturer |
Cora Zoltán |
Course code |
YSE_BTK011 |
Credit |
3 |
Location |
- |
Time |
- |
Course description |
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Short description |
The seminar examines British Classicism in the eighteenth century. ’Culture’ is here understood and interpreted as a unity of historical, philosophical, literary, aesthetic as well as artistic trends and discourses. By interpreting selected primary sources – mainly literary works of art, paintings and architecture, as well as a few philosophical and aesthetical texts – and secondary literature, the course makes an attempt to understand trends, themes, ideas, and qualities of eighteenth-century British Classicism. Such various authors and their works of art are examined as, for example, Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison, Samuel Johnson, William Hogarth, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Colin Campbell or William Kent. |
Schedule |
1. Introductory lecture on the historical and philosophical background of the turn and the first half of the 18th century in order to establish a cultural historical context. 2. LITERATURE: Traditions, classicism and challenges. CORE READINGS: Dickinson, 329-343. p.; Sanders, 273-332. p. Literature (first class): Pope: An Essay on Criticism (Anthology, 1855-1867. p.); Horatius: Ars poetica (Levelek) Literature (second class): (Baucis and Philemon by Dryden and Swift) Anthology, 1845-1853. p.; Ovidius Metamorphoses (8. könyv, Philemon és Baucis); Literature (third class): (Satires) Anthology 2018-2020. p., 1891-1896. p., 1910-1922. p. (Pope’s Satires, An Essay on Man, Imitations of Horace) Literature (fourth class): (Tatler and Spectator passages): Anthology, 2027-2041. p., 2178-2181. p.; Ross, Spectator No. 1., 119., 130., 178., 409., 411-412., 416. Literature I: Allusions and the classical heritage
Literature II: The „ethical order” and the „satire”
Literature III: „Urbanitas” – the literary world of clubs (education, politics, ethics, taste, aesthetics and literature)
3. AESTHETICS: CORE READINGS: Lovejoy, 62-78, 136-166. p.; Monk, 1-62. p. Aesthetics (first class): Shaftesbury: Anthology, 2169-2178. p.; Hutcheson: Routledge (Aesthetics), 41-51. p. Aesthetics (second class): Wood, 169-188. p. and Victorianweb; Ross, Spectator No. 1., 119., 130., 178., 409., 411-412., 416. Aesthetics I: „aesthetic philosophy”
Aesthetics II: The Sublime and The Beautiful: What is Sublime? What is Beauty? Its contemporary relevances.
4. ARTS: CORE READINGS: Gaunt, 29-74. p. (suggested 1-29. p.); Watkin, 96-123. p.; Anthology, 2153-2165. p.
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Semester |
Fall 2018 |
Requirements |
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Requirements to get the grade |
Assessment: students’ participation in discussions and debates of the classes (30%), seminar paper (30%), end term test (40%). |
Reading list |
A Companion to Eighteenth-century Britain. Dickinson, H. T. (ed.), Oxford: Blackwell, 2002. The Routledge Companion to Britain in the Eighteenth Century: 1688-1820. Gregory, Jeremy – Stevenson, John (eds.), London: Routledge, 2007. Gaunt, William: A Concise History of English Painting. London: Thames and Hudson, 1974. (relevant parts) Lovejoy, Arthur O.: Essays in the History of Ideas. New York: Capricorn Books, 1960. Monk, Samuel Holt: The Sublime. A Study of Critical Theories in XVIII-Century England. Michigan: Ann Arbor, 1960. Paxman, David: „Aesthetics as Epistemology, Or Knowledge Without Certainty” Eighteenth-Century Studies, 26.3 (1992-1993), 285-306. Ross, Angus (ed.): Selections from The Tatler and The Spectator of Steele and Addison. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1982. Sanders, Andrew (ed.): The Short Oxford History of English Literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. (relevant parts) The Oxford Anthology of English Literature. Bloom, Harold – Trilling, Lionel et al. (eds.), London: Oxford University Press, 1973. (relevant parts) The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics. New York, Routledge, 2005. Watkin, David: English Architecture. London: Thames and Hudson, 1979. (relevant parts) Wood, Theodore E. B.: The Word ’Sublime’ And Its Context (1660-1760). The Hague – Paris, Moulton & Co., 1972. (used as a textbook) |
Suggested reading list |
Same as the previous list. |