ENGL 5330

The Age of Reason

In August 2007, a band of intrepid graduate students set out on a quest to learn about Age of Reason literature in England. Armed with several books, many websites, other digital and print resources, and one rather odd professor, the students arrived safely in December to an understanding of and appreciation for this literature and its direct impact on their own 21st-century cultural landscape.

This page is dedicated to their story and to their desire (even if it is an assigned one) to share their knowledge with others and raise awareness of this oft-overlooked and criminally understudied period among many undergraduates.

21st-century Beginnings in 18th-century Culture

Travel Writing Women and Marriage Relationship Between the Centuries
Nature of Satire Reading Papers

Appreciating and Contextualizing Samuel Richardson's听Pamela 听
Full text available via Project Gutenberg at听

The students had to choose themes that they wanted to explore and analyze in this novel and then select 10 passages or items to annotate. They used the Oxford World Classics edition of the novel.

Annotation Themes and Topics

A young Englishwoman鈥檚 expected behaviors, obligations, and rights in eighteenth-century marriage 听 听
Class structure and social status听 听 听18th-century Girl听 听 听 听Dispossession听 听 听听Understanding Virtue 听 听





webpage contact:
Samantha M. Curtis