230434 Temptation and Seduction in British Literature (S) (SoSe 2015)

"Today we have reached the ultimate point in the evolution of seduction. Now more than ever, force or brutality of any kind is discouraged. All areas of social life require the ability to persuade people in a way that does not offend or impose itself. Forms of seduction can be found everywhere, blending male and female strategies ([i.e. language and spectacle, A.S.]). Advertisements insinuate, the soft sell dominates. If we are to change people's opinions - and affecting opinion is basic to seduction - we must act in subtle, subliminal ways. Today no political campaign can work without seduction. Since the era of John F. Kennedy, political figures are required to have a degree of charisma, a fascinating presence, or they will lose their audience's attention, which is half the battle. The film world and media create a galaxy of seductive stars and images. We are saturated in the seductive.
But even if much has changed in degree and scope, the essence of seduction is constant: never be forceful or direct; instead, use pleasure as bait, playing on people's emotions, stirring desire and confusion, inducing psychological surrender." (Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction, 2001)

Bibliography

We will read across the centuries and genres, in extracts and short(ish) complete texts including Paradise Lost, Richard III, Othello, Cymbeline, love poetry, Pamela and its parody, Shamela, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, trashy romance fiction, modern advertising.