Due: March 12 (drafts); March 23 (final draft) before midnight

This project will engage you in understanding some of the critical and historical contexts for our readings, particularly with relation to the effects of reading on the body. You will select from a range of provided primary sources (that is, sources written at the same time as our course readings) and place them in conversation with literary themes and historical concerns of the period.

Invention

1. Choose one of the texts we read from Weeks 3-5 to write about.
2. Go through the list of primary texts below. These are works that were published around the same time as the texts we are reading for class. They will give you some contexts about the ways people in this period thought about popular culture, norms, and behaviors.
3. Once you’ve read and made notes on the primary sources, you will want to return to your chosen text and re-read it, making notes and choosing important passages you make use in your paper.
4. Draft some ideas making connections between the two (or three, if you choose!) readings. Think about how they represent people and norms in similar/different ways; what they have to say or criticize about their society; how the authors or characters see themselves in the world. Does the work reflect, satirize, or subvert the commentary or criticism made in the non-fictional readings?
5. Write a short paper (3-4 pages) that makes an argument about the chosen text in relation to the source(s).  Your paper should not simply summarize the two texts but attempt to answer a critical question (see the suggestions in #4, above).
6. In your conclusion, try to reflect on how the points you’ve made throughout the paper compare to contemporary critics of popular culture. In what ways are these critiques timeless? How has our understanding of popular and trashy culture changed?

Grading (150 points)

• Your paper will be graded according to the following elements:
  • Argument (80 points): Paper makes a well-supported and persuasive argument that draws a connection between the reading and the source.
  • Structure and Format (20 points): Paper is at least 950 words in length (3-4 pages), double-spaced, and formatted according to MLA formatting guidelines (including first page, in-text citations, and Works Cited). If you need a refresher on MLA check out the OWL at Purdue.
  • Use of sources (50 points): Paper makes references to the readings where appropriate, using direct quotes and paraphrase to support arguments. Paper carefully incorporates quotes into the text instead of “dropping” them without context or reference.

Texts to choose from

Collier, A View of the Immorality and Profaness of the English Stage. pgs. 1-10 and 140-145, 162-175 (if you’re working on Beggar’s Opera or Country Wife)

Dennis, The Usefulness of the Stage (Part 1) (good counterpart for the text above)

Haywood, A Present for a Servant Maid (1-12; 44-50) (good pairing for Fantomina)

Anon, The Sylph (good pairing for Fantomina or Cavendish)

Addison and Steele, Spectator 18 and 31 (Beggar’s Opera)

Johnson, on works of fiction (pairs well with most any)

Hobbes, On Laughter.  and Addison’s Response (pairs well with Beggar’s or Country Wife)

For model ONLY (not for your paper), look at this overview of Penny Dreadfuls