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Rousseau is read, literally, all over the world. Given the enormous place autobiographical writing has come to occupy in literary studies, his influence is not surprising. The Confessions, in which Rousseau relates most of the events of his life, and The Reveries of the Solitary Walker, which focuses on his last few years, are his primary contributions to this form, which he essentially reinvented in modern Western literature. Together, the two writings give voice to some of the major political, psychological, literary, ethical, and environmental concerns of our day. This breadth is reflected in the wide spectrum of courses in which Rousseau’s works are taught—courses on great books, world literature, political science, autobiography, travel, and women’s studies, as well as courses at all levels of French studies.
Like other volumes in the MLA’s Approaches to Teaching series, this book is divided into two parts. Part 1, “Materials,” reviews the place of the Confessions and Reveries in Rousseau’s oeuvre, assesses editions in French and translations into English, provides guidance to important background readings and critical studies, and lists an array of audiovisual resources and Web sites devoted to Rousseau. In part 2, “Approaches,” contributors discuss the sources of Rousseau’s confessional writings, explore the new literary mode of autobiography, and consider the problems of the public responses to his work. They also scrutinize particular passages and investigate contemporary critical approaches as well as comparative approaches linking Rousseau to other writers, including Wordsworth and Baudelaire. Rounding out the volume are two useful compendiums—a chronology of Rousseau’s life and an annotated list of his other major works.
Pope’s poetry, the editors of this collection suggest, “provides . . . an index to social criticism, to enlightened religious belief, to witty and vivacious writing, and to the bearing of much of the Western literary tradition on the eighteenth-century mind.” Approaches to Teaching Pope’s Poetry strives to make Pope’s genius and versatility shine in the classroom.
Like other books in the MLA’s Approaches to Teaching World Literature series, this one is divided into two parts. The first part, “Materials,” features a survey of useful reference materials as well as recommendations on available editions and anthologies. The essays in the second part, “Approaches,” discuss Pope’s wit and use of satire, his debt to Horace, and his relationship with the Scriblerians; present Pope’s poetry alongside verse and parodies by his contemporaries; and share strategies for teaching individual poems in a variety of courses. Several essays discuss Pope’s influence on the English Romantics, especially Byron and Wordsworth.
Considered by many scholars to be among the most brilliant novels written in French during the eighteenth century, Letters of Mistress Henley Published by Her Friend was composed as a response to Samuel de Constant’s misogynist novel, The Sentimental Husband (1783). Charrière presents six letters penned by a Mistress Henley, who has chosen a decent and affectionate man as her life’s companion only to discover that she cannot bear sharing his life. An immediate success on its publication in 1784, Mistress Henley was greeted with acclaim and controversy: one reader called the book “literarily excellent” but “morally dangerous in various ways.” Remarkable for its empathy for both spouses, Mistress Henley is not only a moving work of fiction but also one of the most modern novels of its day.
Considered by many scholars to be among the most brilliant novels written in French during the eighteenth century, Lettres de Mistriss Henley publiées par son amie was composed as a response to Samuel de Constant’s misogynist novel, The Sentimental Husband (1783). Charrière presents six letters penned by a Mistriss Henley, who has chosen a decent and affectionate man as her life’s companion only to discover that she cannot bear sharing his life. An immediate success on its publication in 1784, Mistriss Henley was greeted with acclaim and controversy: one reader called the book “literarily excellent” but “morally dangerous in various ways.” Remarkable for its empathy for both spouses, Mistriss Henley is not only a moving work of fiction but also one of the most modern novels of its day.
Both Claire and her husband, M. d’Albe, are virtuous and upstanding, and Frédéric, her husband’s nineteen-year-old adopted son and factory assistant, is honest and noble-hearted. But in the beautiful and secluded Loire Valley, the friendship between Claire and Frédéric gradually develops into a forbidden passion.
Claire d’Albe (1799) was audacious in its day for its representation of adulterous love as a positive act of self-fulfillment. As the volume editor, Margaret Cohen, indicates, Sophie Cottin’s best-selling work of sentimentalism highlights the tension in Enlightenment liberalism between collective welfare and personal happiness. Although such later French authors as Stendhal and Balzac denigrated sentimentalism along with female novelists, Claire d’Albe influenced their realist aesthetics.
One of the most popular works of the eighteenth century, Lettres d’une Péruvienne appeared in more than 130 editions, reprints, and translations during the hundred years following its publication in 1747. In the novel the Inca princess Zilia is kidnapped by Spanish conquerors, captured by the French after a battle at sea, and taken to Europe. Graffigny’s brilliant novel offered a bold critique of French society, delivered one of the most vehement feminist protests in eighteenth-century literature, and announced—fourteen years before Rousseau’s Julie, or the New Eloise—the Romantic tradition in French literature.
The works of Samuel Johnson—in particular, the famous Dictionary and the Lives of the Poets—have long held a central place in the English curriculum. This volume from the MLA derives its rationale from a different source, however: reports from experienced teachers of Johnson that students truly enjoy reading him. Johnson’s writings can speak directly to students’ concerns about identity and vocation, the role of authority, the relations between the sexes, and the challenge of trying to live according to one’s own ideas. Approaches to Teaching the Works of Samuel Johnson shows the ways successful teachers have used these topics to enliven classroom discussion.
Like other books in the MLA’s Approaches to Teaching World Literature series, this one is divided into two parts. The first part, “Materials,” weighs the merits of various anthologies of Johnson’s works and evaluates the relevant scholarly and critical resources. In the second part, “Approaches,” sixteen contributors offer thematic teaching strategies for use in courses ranging from composition to women’s studies; explore methods of teaching Johnson’s works to nonmajors, particularly in survey courses of British literature or Western civilization; and focus on teaching specific works, both the familiar ones and those that are less well known, including Johnson’s letters, the Soame Jenyns review, and A Journey to the Western Islands.
One of the most popular works of the eighteenth century, Letters from a Peruvian Woman appeared in more than 130 editions, reprints, and translations during the hundred years following its publication in 1747. In the novel the Inca princess Zilia is kidnapped by Spanish conquerors, captured by the French after a battle at sea, and taken to Europe. Graffigny’s brilliant novel offered a bold critique of French society, delivered one of the most vehement feminist protests in eighteenth-century literature, and announced—fourteen years before Rousseau’s Julie, or the New Eloise—the Romantic tradition in French literature. This edition is the first English translation in almost two hundred years.
When the knight Adelbert leaves his beloved Adelheit for the Crusades, her father arranges for her to marry the rich and powerful Robert von Rastenberg, whom she does not love. Several years later, while strolling through the forest, Adelheit encounters her former lover, who has returned to persuade her to run off with him. Torn between her love for Adelbert and her honor and duty as wife, Adelheit chooses to remain with Robert, but her manipulative stepson, Franz, hungry for his father’s love and his inheritance, conspires to trick Adelheit into fleeing—and precipitates a series of events that end in tragedy.
Purporting to chronicle historical events, Eleonore Thon’s play reveals more about the changing roles of women at the dawn of the Industrial Age than it does about knightly conduct in the German Middle Ages. Published in 1788 and translated here for the first time in English, Adelheit von Rastenberg will be of interest to students of German literature, comparative literature, women’s studies, and theater.
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