230569 British Cultural History 1500-1760 (S) (SoSe 2009)

What can be studied, and hopefully learned, in this class? Those who are interested in the early modern period will get to know the major authors, scientists, philosophers and historical events; those who are more interested in modern Britain will also see at least some of their interests taken care of as many of the cultural practices that shape the UK (and in some measure the USA) have their origin in the period chosen for discussion in this class.

The course will deal with the religious, political, cultural and scientific developments from the early 16th to the late 18th century and their interconnections. Here are a few examples to arouse your curiosity: the transition from the Middle Ages to early modern times in the Reformation and the Renaissance; observation and observers in Shakespeare and the development of the optical industry (Hamlet is “th’ observed of all observers”); the change from aristocratic courtier to gentleman as a cultural ideal; socio-religious conflicts and communities (the Civil War, Bunyan, and Puritans and Methodists); market forces and Cromwell’s policies; late 17th century diaries as precursors of the novel, and court mistresses as forerunners of the suffragette movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; shifting power relations between the Crown and Parliament; Whigs and Tories; the British constitution and the development of government machinery after 1688; the tradition of wit and the social function of Restoration Comedy; the line from 17th century black anthropology to the optimism of the Enlightenment of the great thinkers (e.g. Locke: “ Die amerikanische Unabhängigkeitserklärung übernimmt fast wörtlich Formulierungen von Locke.”); time (and money), causality and the new (i.e. modern) science; the rise of the novel in the 18th century (which became the dominant literary form only much later); the transition from an aristocratic to a middle class culture in the 18th century; bourgeois concepts of love and marriage; rise of the media and the change from a public to a private culture in the 18th century, pitting rationality against feeling (Sense and Sensibility, to use Jane Austen’s title) in the late 18th century

Set Texts: All this (and more, as they say) can be found in the excellent first volume of D. Schwanitz’ book Englische Kulturgeschichte, UTB 1881 (from which the above German quotation is taken), which students are strongly recommended to buy. We will also use some sections of U. Seeber ed., Englische Literaturgeschichte, 4th edn 2004.

Credits: Students will have to write four summaries in English for 2 CPs, and six for 3 CPs.

Please note: A follow-up course is planned for the winter term of 2009, based on Schwanitz’ second volume, which carries the story down to 1914.