We're coming to the end of the introductory portion of this course. We've listened to Pepys and Cavendish describe the Royal Society's doings, we've looked through the microscope with Hooke, and we've pondered the nature of ambergris with Boyle. We've seen Dryden defend the monarchy against a number of impending threats. We've watched Hester Thrale drum essential knowledge into her toddler's resistant head, and we've argued with Locke about education. We've gone on Diderot's mental journey to Tahiti and been intrigued by his suggestions that sexual enjoyment is a human good to be acknowledged, even celebrated. We've been titillated by Fantomina's adventures and wondered what this combination of fantasy and realism portended for the development of literature. In short, we've bounced from one end of the Enlightenment period to another, and we've touched on any number of key ideas and more than a few significant features.
What does it all add up to? What do you know now that you didn't know back when the semester started? What recurring themes do you see that might allow you to get beyond obvious claims ("reason was important during the enlightenment!") and arrive at some more nuanced understanding of the period? Identify one text from those we've read so far that seems particularly crucial for understanding this period, and use a brief quote from it to say why.
Deadline: Friday (9/18), start of class.
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The only piece we have read so far that has really surprised me has been Fantomina. So often, the Enlightenment era is represented as one that pulled away from the chaos and confusion of human emotions and desires, and in many ways we have seen this to be true through the more scientific readings. However, rather than professing ideals of education and critical reasoning, Fantomina is a tale of deceit, trickery, and sensuality. I had always imagined that the literary works of the eighteenth century were all based on the enlightenment ideals, or that they at least abided by some general moral code. In contrast, Fantomina seems to be the kind of piece one would expect to find in a more modern era; one in which women were beginning to explore their sexuality more openly, and thus statements such as, "Her design was once more to engage him, to hear him sigh, to see him languish, to feel the strenuous pressures of his eager arms, to be commpelled, to be sweetly forced..." would not be considered scandalous or improper.
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