106-211 Restoration Writing

Usually 25 points of first-year English, see Prerequisites.

This subject studies a range of writings from Restoration England (1660-1688) in order to examine how aestheticised literary forms like epic, satire, comedy of manners and the novel are produced from an engagement with the topical, material and partisan. The subject matter is organised around two principal historical moments: the restoration of Charles II and its aftermath (studied in relation to Cavendish, Milton and Marvell); and the events of the Popish plot and exclusion crisis (to which Dryden, Otway and Behn respond in various ways). The career and poetry of the Earl of Rochester exemplify the iconic figure of the Restoration Rake or libertine hero. John Dyden and Aphra Behn illustrate the development in this period of the 'professional' writer in their production of a large output of commercially successful writings across many genres and in their involvement in partisan politics and personal scandal. Students who successfully complete this subject will be familiar with some key political issues and major literary forms of the Restoration period; will have learnt how to analyse texts by Dryden and Behn in the context of a range of Restoration writing; and will understand contemporary critical and cultural paradigms for the reading of Restoration texts.