Lecture Video #2: Manon Lescaut and the Harlot's Progress (also, read Chapters VII-IX)

NOTE: Keep reading Manon Lescaut for our next class, reading Chapters VII to IX, or as close as you can get to that. No questions for this new section, but we will discuss it next week, so expect spoilers! 

Otherwise, watch the short video below on the art of William Hogarth, and how he was challenging how his society depicted women in art and fiction. When you finish, respond to the question below in a COMMENT.

After you've watched the video, respond to this following: where do you think our own society falls on the criminal debate? Are our modern-day version of harlots, pickpockets, highwaymen, and rogues born to the breed or made by society? Do we still regard criminals as almost a 'race' rather than a vocation? And is one sex more guility of it than another? Who might be the 'Miss Mary Edwards' of 21st century America?

Reading & Questions for Prevost, Manon Lescaut, Chapters IV-VII

NOTE: Wednesday classes should do the questions below before these ones. We'll be discussing Chapters I-III in class on Wednesday; these are the questions for next Monday and Wednesday.

As before, answer 2 of the 4 questions in a short response, enough to show you thinking and not just answering the questions. 

Q1: Throughout the book, we have to remember the double narration of the narrator (Prevost?) and des Grieux, who narrates the story. In many ways, des Grieux exhibits many of the qualities of the "unreliable narrator" who you can find in many first-person stories, such as Poe's short stories and Bronte's Wuthering Heights (which some of you read last semester!). Where do you find des Grieux most unreliable in his recounting of events? Are there certain kinds of things he seems to exaggerrate or misrepresent? Or might he even be oblivious to his mistakes, as a way of seeing what he wants to see (but which we know isn't quite accurate)?

Q2: One of the only times Manon is allowed to speak directly (and not second-hand) is through the letter on page 49 (Chapter IV). If we believe that these are really the words she wrote (and not edited/manipulated by des Grieux), what does it reveal about her character and values? Is it consistent with the portrait of Manon presented elsewhere in the book?

Q3: In Chapter V, des Grieux makes the argument that "most men are touched by five or six passions...But characters of a more delicate texture can be tossed around in a hundred different ways; they seem to have more than five senses, and to be a prey to ideas and sensations surpassing the ordinary limits of nature" (59). Do you think des Grieux believes this himself? Does his superhuman ability to feel and emote allow him to transgress the moral law of 'ordinary' human beings? Or is this a ploy to excuse these very crimes in the eyes of the author?

Q4: Later in Chapter V des Grieux engages in a passionate religious debate with his old friend, Tiberge. Some of this debate might be colored by Prevost's own ideas and opinions--a critique slipped into the narrative itself. According to des Grieux, why is love a better faith than religion itself? What makes it difficult for those who practice sensibility to embrace--or be consoled by--Tiberge's notion of faith? Also, why might this have sounded quite shocking for audiences of the 1730's?

Reading & Questions for Prevost, Manon Lescaut, Chapters I-III

Read the first three chapters of Manon Lescaut and answer any 2 of the 4 questions below. These questions are designed to get you inside the text, so you can actively think about the book instead of merely skimming it. So please avoid facile 1-2 sentence answers, and please don't merely restate the question. Try to think 'out loud' as you write, and don't worry if you're wrong or don't 100% understand the book. It's better to write your way to understanding than to read a summary somewhere and post an answer you didn't come to yourself (in which case, you learn nothing). Just enjoy the book and respond honestly and thoughtfully. 

ALSO, you can bring your responses to class next week, or you can e-mail them to me. The benefit of bringing them is that you'll remember what you wrote during our discussion, so if I call on you (and it's a very small class!), you'll always have something to say. :) 

QUESTIONS (answer any 2 of 4):

Q1: In the Preface, the narrator writes that "I have to portray a young man who obstinately refuses to be happy and deliberately plunges into the most dire misfortunes" (3). Many at the time would object to writing about such a "lost" man and wonder why the author is reveling in bad behavior amidst a low moral background. How does he defend his story and his preoccupation with "deliberately unhappy" people?

Q2: The narrator also notes, in Part One, that "this narrative is perfectly accurate and faithful...it even reproduces comments and emotional digressions which the young fellow put in with the most natural ease of manner" (11). Clearly this is a work of fiction, so why is he trying to hard to claim that this is "real" and that every word and event is taken from real life? Are there other works you know that do this? For similar reasons?

Q3: What makes des Grieux (and many others) fall so madly in love with Manon? While the novel claims this is merely love at first sight, what other factors helped to spur on the attraction? In other words, what makes so many people willing to ignore her faults and do her favors? Especially since at the beginning of the book, she's a convicted criminal.

Q4: While this is seemingly a tragic love story, how do we know that the author (Antoine-Francois Prevost) is very cynical about the nature of love and the conventions of romance? Why might we call this an anti-love story, one that questions how people fall into patterns of romance rather than sincere expressions of sentiment? 

Lecture Video #1: Making Love in the Enlightenment (sort of)

 NOTE: This is the first lecture video for our class, and it's meant to introduce you to some of the historical and literary context for our first book, Manon Lescaut. I think it's always beneficial to know something about the world of a book (its time, author, country, etc.) before reading it. We'll talk about many of these issues in class next week, and your first set of questions (which I'll post on Wednesday) will ask you to think about some of these concepts. 

There is a SHORT RESPONSE QUESTION below the video, so watch the video first, and then ANSWER THE QUESTION AS A COMMENT. It's not meant to be tricky or in-depth; rather, it's just a simple way to replicate a class discussion, so you can hear other people's responses and voice your own. For Monday classes, this will be due on Wednesday by 5pm; for Wednesday classes, this will be due on Friday by 5pm. But feel free to watch it and comment on it early if you choose. 

[Also--the video opens with about 10 seconds of dead air...for some reason the music didn't record. I'll fix that next time. Bear with me!]

THE RESPONSE QUESTION (post as a comment below, OR e-mail it to me if you have trouble posting. You might copy your comment before posting in case it gets deleted accidentally, so you can paste it in an e-mail): The works of art in the video are critical of love in high society, poking fun at how looks can be deceiving in the art of love making (not just sex, but flirting, wooing, etc.). Can you think of a modern work of art (a song, a movie, a show, or a book) that is equally critical of love relationships in modern society? Something that reveals a "behind the scenes" work to how romantic things really look under the microscope? 

Welcome to the Course & Syllabus

Welcome to our English 3923, World Lit from 1700 for the pandemic Fall 2020 semester! Obviously, this class will be very different from our typical literature seminars, in that we will only have a physical class once a week, followed by two on-line days where I'll try to guide you through reading, questions, and short lecture videos. I can promise you that you won't have more work than usual (if possible, you might have a little less), and I'll work hard to streamline our experience so that it feels consistent and coherent. If you have any questions, or simply need help understanding what's going on, don't hesitate to contact me at any time.