Eighteenth-Century Literature from Restoration to Revolution

Module code: EN2350 (double module)

The period between Charles II’s Restoration in 1660 and the French Revolution of 1789 produced some of the most innovative and daring works published in English – so daring, in fact, that these works have been censored and bowdlerised ever since. What counted as ‘literature’ was being fiercely fought over: some of the works we’ll read were originally judged too experimental, scandalous, or fun to be esteemed as ‘literature’. Britain’s first professional female authors and the first Black British writers also began to publish in this period, with people from all social ranks finding literary fame or notoriety.  Here are some of them:

• John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester: An aristocratic and libertine. His poetry was so outrageous some of it could not be safely printed until after 1959, when the Obscene Publications Act protected publishers from prosecution.
• Eliza Haywood: actress and novelist, author of Fantomina (1725)
• Daniel Defoe: journalist, spy, novelist. Called the ‘Father’ of the English novel, though for a couple of these works he was writing in the persona of a woman. These include the novel we’ll read, Roxana (1724).
• Olaudah Equiano: enslaved as a child; became a sailor and adventurer, an abolitionist, and a publishing entrepreneur. Author of The Interesting Narrative (1789) about his life. 

During this module the topics we’ll investigate include gender and sexuality; race; celebrity and scandal; the rise of the novel; satire; life-writing; and campaigning literature.