ENGL 038. Regency Skepticism, 1812-1832

Skepticism and critique, rather than prophecy and transformation, are the common threads linking the "second-generation Romantics": writers like Jane Austen, Byron, and the Shelleys. Indeed, Regency writers, pursuing formal and psychological integrity within a period of complex social changes, transform a certain wry cynicism into both an art form and a tool of inquiry. We'll explore the different visions of power at work in such diverse texts as Austen's Emma, Percy Shelley's "Mont Blanc" as well as parts of Prometheus Unbound and The Cenci, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and Byron's Don Juan. To see the relevance of regency skepticism today, we'll close the semester with a reading of the Romanticist anti-hero of J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace. At the same time as we dwell on the textual choices of these fabulous writers, students will explore their own writing process, developing strategies to help them create more nuanced, unified, and sophisticated written arguments.
18th/19th c.
Humanities.
Writing course.
1 credit.
Catalog chapter: English Literature
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/english-literature

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