ENG 494d - Samuel Johnson and the Eighteenth-Century Reader
Miss Berglund

Spring 1999

Office: Blaustein 321; Box 5335; 439-2197; lber@conncoll.edu
Office Hours: M/W 4-5 p.m.; T/Th 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

Required Texts:
Samuel Johnson, Selected Poetry and Prose (ed. Brady/Wimsatt)
James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (Oxford)
photocopy packet

You will need a copy of your Norton Major Authors anthology from ENG 250/251 and a copy of Shakespeare's King Lear.

Course Requirements: Three short papers (one 10%, two 20% each), one longer essay (30%), participation in class discussion (20%), and attendance. You must complete all assigned work in order to pass the course.

You may miss three classes without penalty. Subsequent absences will result in the lowering of your final grade by 2/3 of a level (e.g., a B would become a C+). If you are more than 10 minutes late, you will be marked absent. If you are absent when one of your papers is scheduled for discussion, your participation mark will be lowered by one full grade. If you miss class, be sure to collect handouts from the bin on my office door.

When you have a paper due, you must read all assigned material for that week; otherwise, the recommended reading is optional. Papers should be 750-1000 words, and must be distributed via email no later than 12 noon on Mondays. Because these papers will be discussed in class, late papers are not acceptable. If you cannot distribute a paper on time, speak with me well in advance. Late papers will be marked down one full grade unless you and I have reached an agreement beforehand. If your paper is more than a week late I may refuse to accept it, in which case it will be graded F.

The final essay must be typed and double-spaced. Essays that do not follow the citation and format guidelines handed out in class will be returned for revision and may be marked down for lateness. If you wish, you may hand in advance drafts for my comments; I will return drafts within 48 hours. Feel free to consult me at any stage during the composition of any paper.

Weeks in which two student papers will be distributed for class discussion are marked (*) below.

You are responsible for reading your classmates' papers BEFORE class meets. If you are assigned a study question or asked to comment on a classmate's paper, prepare a 2-3 minute answer. You should participate in discussion of all papers and study questions.

 

BOOKS, NEWSPAPERS, PERIODICALS AND THEIR READERS

Week One
Monday: Introduction
Wednesday: Paper: Observations on an eighteenth-century book

Week Two
Monday: Johns, The Nature of the Book, Ch. 2
Wednesday:
Belanger, Publishers and Writers in Eighteenth-Century England
Vincent, Literacy and Popular Culture in England, 1750-1914, Ch. 1
Assignment (prepare for discussion): reading and writing by candlelight

Week Three*
Johnson, The Rambler (1750-1752) [all essays in anthology and in packet]
Recommended:

Fussell, Samuel Johnson and the Life of Writing, Ch. 6

Woodruff, "Johnson's Rambler and its Contemporary Context"

Week Four*

Johnson, "Proposals for the Harleian Miscellany" (1743), "An Account of the Harleian Library" (1743), "Introduction to the Harleian Miscellany" (1744), and "On the Duty of a Journalist" (1758) [in packet]

The Connecticut Gazette (copies in Special Collections); specific assignment TBA

Recommended:

Copeland, Colonial American Newspapers (first and last chapters)

Cranfield, The Development of the Provincial Newspaper, 1700-1760 (Chs. 1-2)

BOSWELL (1)

Week Five*

Johnson, Rambler 60 (1750) and Idler 84 (1759)

Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), pp. 1-430. We will discuss 1-26, 47-52, 105-107, 119-127, 143-188, 240-244, 272-362.

Recommended:

Schwartz, Boswell's Johnson: A Preface to the Life

Heiland, "Remembering the hero in Boswell's Life of Johnson"

THE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Week Six*

Johnson, "Plan of the English Dictionary" (1745) [packet], "Preface to the Dictionary" (1755) and "Letter to Chesterfield" (1755)

Recommended:

Fussell, Samuel Johnson and the Life of Writing, Ch. 7

Green, Chasing the Sun, introduction and Chs. 8-9

Week Seven*

Johnson, Dictionary of the English Language (1755); definitions assignment

Recommended:

DeMaria, Johnson's Dictionary and the Language of Learning, introduction

Barrell, English Literature in History, 1730-80: An Equal, Wide Survey, Ch. 2

JOHNSON'S EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE

Week Eight

Johnson, "Preface to Shakespeare" (1765)

Sherbo, Samuel Johnson, Editor of Shakespeare, Ch. 4

Franklin, Shakespeare Domesticated (skim)

Week Nine*

Monday: Shakespeare, Henry IV (1597) and Johnson, Notes on Henry IV [packet]

Recommended:

Sherbo, Samuel Johnson, Editor of Shakespeare, Ch. 5

Tomarken, Samuel Johnson on Shakespeare: The Discipline of Criticism, Ch. 1

Wednesday: Shakespeare, King Lear (1606), Johnson, Notes on King Lear [packet], and Tate, The History of King Lear (1691)

Recommended:

Tomarken, Samuel Johnson on Shakespeare: The Discipline of Criticism, Ch. 5

Holland, "How Can Dr. Johnson's Remarks on Cordelia's Death Add to My Own Response?"

BOSWELL (2)

Week Ten*

Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), pp. 431-894. We will discuss 513-550 and 664-790.

Recommended:

Rader, "Literary Form in Factual Narrative: The Example of Boswell's Johnson"

Greene, "Tis a Pretty Book, Mr. Boswell, But--"

Pottle, "The Adequacy as Biography of Boswell's Life of Johnson"

Greene, "Boswell's Life as Literary Biography"

JOHNSON'S LIVES OF THE POETS

Week Eleven*

Johnson, "Life of Milton" (1779); Ramblers 36, 27, 94 (1750)

Recommended:

Fussell, Samuel Johnson and the Life of Writing, Ch. 9

Berglund, "The Readers of the Rambler and Johnson's Attack on Pastoral"

Week Twelve*

Johnson, "Life of Cowley" (1779) and "Life of Gray" (1781)

Recommended:

Damrosch, "Samuel Johnson and Reader-Response Criticism"

DeMaria, "Samuel Johnson and the Reading Revolution"

Week Thirteen*

Johnson, "Life of Pope" (1781); proposal for final paper due

Recommended:

Hilles, "The Making of the 'Life of Pope'"

Damrosch, The Uses of Johnson's Criticism, Ch. 8

BOSWELL (3)

Week Fourteen

Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), pp. 895-1402. We will discuss 899-982, 1090-1114, 1283-1305, 1326-1333, 1374-1402.

Draft of final paper due

Exam week

Final paper due, 10-12 pp.

Lisa Berglund

Spring 1999

"Samuel Johnson and the Eighteenth-Century Reader"

Secondary Reading

Books on reserve

Barrell, John. English Literature in History, 1730-80: An Equal, Wide Survey. New York: St. Martin's, 1983.

Belanger, Terry. "Publishers and Writers in Eighteenth-Century England," in Books and their Readers, ed. Isabel Rivers. New York: St. Martins, 1982.

Copeland, David A. Colonial American Newspapers: Character and Content. Newark: U Delaware P, 1997.

Cranfield, G. A. The Development of the Provincial Newspaper, 1700-1760. Oxford: Clarendon, 1962.

DeMaria, Robert, Jr. Johnson's Dictionary and the Language of Learning. Chapel Hill: U North Carolina P, 1986.

Damrosch, Leopold. The Uses of Johnson's Criticism. Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1976.

Franklin, Colin. Shakespeare Domesticated: The Eighteenth-Century Editions. Scolar Press, 1991.

Fussell, Paul. Samuel Johnson and the Life of Writing. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1971.

Green, Jonathon. Chasing the Sun: Dictionary Makers and the Dictionaries They Made. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1996.

Greene, Donald. "Boswell's Life as Literary Biography," in Boswell's Life of Johnson: New Questions, New Answers, ed. John A. Vance. Athens, GA: U Georgia P, 1985.

Greene, Donald. "Tis a Pretty Book, Mr. Boswell, But--," in Boswell's Life of Johnson: New Questions, New Answers, ed. John A. Vance. Athens, GA: U Georgia P, 1985.

Heiland, Donna. "Remembering the hero in Boswell's Life of Johnson," in New Light on Boswell, ed. Greg Clingham. Cambridge UP, 1991.

Hilles, Frederick W. "The Making of the 'Life of Pope'," in New Light on Dr. Johnson: Essays on the Occasion of his 250th Birthday. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1967.

Holland, Norman. "How Can Dr. Johnson's Remarks on Cordelia's Death Add to My Own Response?" in Psychoanalysis and the Question of the Text, ed. Geoffrey H. Hartman. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins UP, 1978.

Johns, Adrian. The Nature of the Book: Print and Knowledge in the Making. Chicago UP, 1998.

Pottle, Frederick A. "The Adequacy as Biography of Boswell's Life of Johnson," in Boswell's Life of Johnson: New Questions, New Answers, ed. John A. Vance. Athens, GA: U Georgia P, 1985.

Rader, Ralph W. "Literary Form in Factual Narrative: The Example of Boswell's Johnson," in Boswell's Life of Johnson: New Questions, New Answers, ed. John A. Vance. Athens, GA: U Georgia P, 1985.

Schwartz, Richard B. Boswell's Johnson: A Preface to the Life. Madison: U Wisconsin P, 1978.

Sherbo, Arthur. Samuel Johnson, Editor of Shakespeare, with an Essay on the Adventurer. Urbana: U Illinois Press, 1956.

Tate, Nahum. The History of King Lear. 1691. In Five Restoration Adaptations of Shakespeare. Ed. Christopher Spencer. Urbana: U Illinois P, 1965.

Tomarken, Edward. Samuel Johnson on Shakespeare: The Discipline of Criticism. Athens, GA: U Georgia P, 1991.

Vincent, David. Literacy and Popular Culture in England, 1750-1914. Cambridge UP, 1989.

Photocopies on reserve

Berglund, Lisa. "The Readers of The Rambler and Johnson's Attack on Pastoral" (unpubl.)

Damrosch, Leopold. "Samuel Johnson and Reader-Response Criticism."

Eighteenth Century 21:2 (1980)

DeMaria, Robert. "Samuel Johnson and the Reading Revolution." Eighteenth-Century Life 16 (1992)

Woodruff, James F. "Johnson's Rambler and its Contemporary Context." Bulletin of Research in the Humanities (1982)

ENG 494d - "Samuel Johnson and the Eighteenth-Century Reader"

Four assignments:

1. Paper No. 1.

Visit Special Collections (open 9-5 M-F) and choose an eighteenth-century edition of a book to examine (the book need not have been written in the eighteenth century).

Then, write an essay of at least three pages (750 words) that answers the following questions:

  1. Identify the book.

  2. Why did you choose the book you did?

  3. Describe the book in as much detail as possible. Look for features that strike you as different from features of late 20th-century books; look for resemblances.

  4. What does this exercise suggest about the experience of reading in the eighteenth century?

2. Exercise on reading by candlelight

I gave each student a candle and a volume from my own (incomplete and battered) 1792 set of Johnson's Lives of the Poets. Students were required to read for 10 minutes by candle-light, and then to write for 10 minutes by candlelight. Then they were to report back to the class on what they learned from the exercise. [No, I did not require them to use quills, or even fountain pens.]

3. Exercise on using the Dictionary

  1. Choose two words. This will probably be the hardest part of the assignment. The words need to appear in Johnson's Dictionary and must still be in current use, although their meanings may have changed. Try to think of at least one word that you consider "ordinary" and one that you consider more unusual (not necessarily difficult). However, do not choose a word with many different meanings, like a common verb (e.g., "run").

  2. Look up one word in the following sources, in order:
    • Johnson's Dictionary (in the English department office)
    • the Oxford English Dictionary (in the computer room next to the dept. office)
    • the 1857 Merriam-Webster Dictionary (in Special Collections)
    • the newest dictionary in Shain library (ask at the Reference Desk)

    Note definitions, etymology, pronunciation, examples of usage, illustrations if any, etc.

  3. Look up the other word in the following sources, in order:
    • Johnson's Dictionary on CD-Rom
    • The Oxford English Dictionary on line
    • whatever dictionary you own

Prepare a commentary on your observations about these different experiences of word-searching. You will share this information with the class but need not hand it in. Bring photocopies of different definitions if you find anything particularly interesting.

4. Final paper, 10-12 pages. Draft due 12 May; revision due 19 May at my office by 5 p.m.

No later than Wednesday, 5 May you should submit to me, in email or hard copy form, a paragraph describing your topic and the approach you intend to take. You also should be prepared to discuss your ideas briefly that day in class.

Your paper must offer a critical analysis of at least one of the texts by Johnson or Boswell assigned for this class. The paper must engage with one or more of the books or essays assigned as "recommended reading," although you also should feel free to discuss critics I didn't assign. You also may quote from your classmates' short papers, if appropriate. Be sure to prepare a proper Works Cited page and to follow the format guidelines distributed in class.

In writing this paper you may use material from your shorter papers, provided that you substantially develop it in this new context.

If you wish to explore issues raised by a physical examination of any of the eighteenth-century editions we looked at during the semester, you may do so as long as you fulfill the requirements above.

Related Links:
Prof. Berglund's Home Page
Connecticut College Home Page