ENGL 357L

Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Studies (3 credits)

Instructor: Scott MacKenzie
Section: 003
Term: 2

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime: What was Funny in the Eighteenth Century?

Modern critics of eighteenth-century British humor tend to see it as harsh, ill-natured, and ruthless.  Alexander Pope declared that “the life of a wit is a warfare on earth” and backed up his words with a career of fearless and bloodthirsty satirical slaughter.  The drama of the period is frank, bawdy, and populated with unpleasant characters who do not necessarily get any kind of comeuppance; in fact they often thrive.  But eighteenth-century humor is not all bitter satire and exploitation.  Given the general dislike for excessive seriousness (what was usually called gravity) and the equal popularity of irony in all its forms, humor was seldom altogether absent from any literary works of the period.  In this class we will examine what seems to have made people laugh in the eighteenth century, what literary forms and influences were particularly effective sources of humor, and how notions of what is funny change over the course of the century.  We will supplement our analysis with readings on the theory and philosophy of humor.  The authors we will read include Aphra Behn, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Mary Wortley Montagu, Laurence Sterne, and Jane Austen.