01   MW4   CAC   70906  FESTA    SC-103

Sex and Sensibility in the Enlightenment
This course examines eighteenth-century literature with particular attention to the way ideas of moral and physical sensibility shape categories of sex and gender. Topics include theories of sexual difference; the novel and the rise of the conjugal couple; libertine writings and the 'invention' of pornography. Readings include texts by Alexander Pope, Samuel Richardson, Laurence Sterne, Denis Diderot, Matthew Lewis, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Jane Austen, as well as historical materials concerning the relations between the sexes—early modern magazines for men and women, books on comportment (what might be called early modern ‘self-help’ manuals), and medical texts.

Requirements: class attendance and active participation, two papers, several short writing assignments, and a midterm exam.