What Was the Public Sphere?
ENGL 323
Spring 2022 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
AMST 234 |
The democratic revolutions of the 18th century are often thought to have originated with the emergence of modern reading publics--groups of strangers who, through the alchemy of print, came to understand themselves as coherent entities capable of exercising political power against the state. The "public sphere" is central to American identity in particular, from the debates that raged in newspapers before the ratification of the Constitution to the calls for civility that have appeared more recently on Twitter and in New York Times op-eds. This course will explore the relationship between print culture and political action by reading 18th- and early-19th-century American literature. We will consider the material and social conditions that gave rise to the public sphere. We will examine the role of rational discourse in adjudicating political claims. We will ask whether the public sphere ever actually existed, and whether it does--or can-- exist in our current historical moment. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (ENGL) |
Major Readings:
Benjamin Franklin, THE SILENCE DOGOOD LETTERS and THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Phillis Wheatley, SELECTED POEMS
Thomas Paine, COMMONS SENSE and RIGHTS OF MAN
THE FEDERALIST PAPERS
William Hill Brown, THE POWER OF SYMPATHY
Olaudah Equiano, THE INTERESTING NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF OLAUDAH EQUIANO
Susanna Rowson, CHARLOTTE TEMPLE
Hannah Webster Foster, THE COQUETTE
Charles Brockden Brown, WIELAND
Along with essays by/excerpts from the work of Jürgen Habermas, Benedict Anderson, Hannah Arendt, Nancy Fraser, Oskar Negt and Alexander Kluge, Michael Warner, Lauren Berlant, Trish Loughran, and Paul Starr
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Examinations and Assignments:
5 page paper, 10 page paper |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course fulfills the Literary History II and Theory requirements and contributes to the American Literature and Theory and Literary Forms concentrations of the English major. |
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