Fielding's Amelia at last!

Hello All:

Thank you for your patience in our two-week hiatus--Spring Break is, alas!, over and so, thankfully, is our amazing conference. We are ready to roll up our brocaded coats, fluff our perriwigs, apply our patches, and tighten our shifts once again--in short, we're ready to get back to work at the eighteenth-century reading group!

This week we'll be reading Henry Fielding's lesser-studied novel, Amelia. <--Click on the title to access the full novel on Project Gutenberg (thanks, Kate, for the link!). You can also find the very first scholarly edition from Broadview Press on amazon relatively well-priced.

We also will likely have a special guest this week: Tracey may be bringing a prospective C18 graduate student in the English program to sit in our talk. While it seems unlikely that our prospective will have had time to read the novel and join the conversation, let's make her feel welcome! Dinner to follow at The Runcible Spoon.

As always, we'll be meeting on Kirkwood at The Pour House on Wednesday, March 27th from 4:30 - 5:30. We hope to see you there!

Fielding Delayed Until Next Week

We are going to delay meeting to discuss Fielding's Amelia until next week due to all the craziness around the conference. Otherwise, same time & place (see the last blog entry for more details). Thanks & we look forward to seeing you next Wednesday, March 27.

Up Next: Henry Fielding, Amelia

Smith's text generated a number of great ideas yesterday. Some larger themes, definitely circulating in yesterday's talk, appear to be common to many of our discussions: these include embodiment, the limits of the body (or lack thereof), gender, individuality, choice, boundaries, and health. We will continue to trace these ideas and more when we come back from spring break having read Henry Fielding's Amelia.

You can find Fielding's novel on project Gutenberg:

Amelia

Since we've been talking around and through gender, I thought we might supplement this week's readings with an article about the role of women in this novel. Below is a link to an article from Modern Language Review by Earla Wulputte. Having not read this article, I cannot attest to its gravity, but regardless it should provide a point of departure around some of the issues we have been exploring. You can easily link to a pdf of this article through Onesearch, or you can email me (katblake@indiana.edu) for a copy.

Wulputte, Earla. "'Women Buried': Henry Fielding and Feminine Absence." Modern Language Review. 95.2 (2000)

We will resume our meetings after spring break on March 20 from 4:30-5:30 at the Pour-House on Kirkwood. Hope to see you there!

Up Next Week: Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments

We shared some very interesting reflections on Burton last night, and now it's time to turn to the long-awaited Adam Smith & his Theory of Moral Sentiments! There have been consistent votes for Smith since we started the blog, so we anticipate that this will be a vibrant discussion.

Below are two links to Smith. One is HTML and the other is a $0.99 Kindle edition from Amazon. I regret that Project Gutenberg does not have a pdf copy. Please read as much of the selection as you are able, and come ready to share any & all of your questions/insights/observations/theories.

Theory of Moral Sentiments -- Kindle

Theory of Moral Sentiments -- HTML

Below are some supplementary readings; you'll note that Siskin & Warner have made a return, as we did not have a chance to discuss their texts yesterday. I also ran across Rae Greiner's article on "Theory," so I thought why not? You can access it through Project Muse on the library's website, or email me (Katherine Blake -- katblake@indiana.edu) for a pdf copy. 

Peripheral texts
Clifford Siskin and William Warner, "This is Enlightenment: An Invitation in the Form of an Argument" (Introductory chapter to This is Enlightenment, Chicago: U Chicago P, 2009) 
Rae Greiner, "The Art of Knowing Your Own Nothingness." ELH 77.4 (Winter 2010)

As always, we will be meeting Wednesday, March 6th at The Pour-House on Kirkwood, from 4:30-5:30. We look forward to seeing you there!

Up Next Week: Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy

Hello All:

A great discussion on Locke and Rousseau made that hour fly by today! Thank you to all who attended. One hour was clearly not enough to map out the complexities of these two theorists, but I think we aired some really great questions that could turn into great papers and studies.

According to the votes to the right of this blog, Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) is up next. Though it is most obviously a seventeenth-century text, Burton's work becomes central to a variety of eighteenth-century literature on the mind, health and medicine, depression, the humors, genius and melancholia, etc.

We will be reading Burton, then, in small doses (it's a huge work). Group members today agreed upon reading sections from the "First Partition" (which lays out a theory and "symptoms" of melancholy) and the "Third Partition" (which discusses love, desire, and melancholy). Those interested in medicine and disease may want to check out the "Second Partition" instead of the third. Again, because these pieces are so long, please read as far as you are able and nothing more. Also, if you aren't interested in reading Burton but want to discuss the "peripheral" text, please attend the group meeting to do so--this is a very flexible and informal group, so don't feel too pressured! Below is a breakdown of the sections we'll try to cover and a link to Project Gutenberg that contains several different ebook forms of the text. I tried out the Kindle edition and it worked perfectly--the "contents" tab conveniently lets you jump straight to the different partitions!


Major Text for Discussion

Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy

Contents to be covered:

First Partition - Sections 1, 2, 3
Third Partition - Sections 1, 2, 3 

Peripheral Text for Discussion

Clifford Siskin and William Warner, "This is Enlightenment: An Invitation in the Form of an Argument" (Introductory chapter to This is Enlightenment, Chicago: U Chicago P, 2009)


We will meet at the same time and place, Wednesday, Feb 27th from 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. at the Pour House on Kirkwood.

IU Theatre: Sheridan's School for Scandal

Hello All:


The Department of Theatre at IU is performing Sheridan's School for Scandal this Friday, Feb 22nd, through March 2nd.

Thursday, Linda Pisano is giving a talk associated with the show that concerns eighteenth-century costume design. It is titled, "From Bosom to Ankle: The Clothing of Scandals in 18th-Century London." It will be held Thurs, Feb 21st, @ 5:30 pm in the Studio Theatre, 2nd Floor, 7th and Jordan.


If anyone in the reading group would like to attend the play this Friday, a couple of us from workshop will also be grabbing dinner and going to the show. Email or message me for details! Also, several members of the reading group are attending on Tuesday of next week with an eighteenth-century class--contact Tracey if you want details!



Here is the link for show and ticket information: http://www.indiana.edu/~thtr/productions/2012/scandal.shtml


Looking forward to tomorrow's meeting on Rousseau and Locke!

Up Next Week: Politics of Contract--Locke & Rousseau

Hello All:

Well, our discussion of Diderot was excellent--thank you to all who came and contributed to a great, dynamic interdisciplinary discussion!

For next week (based upon requests & your votes on the poll to the right of this blog), we're going to discuss selections from Locke and Rousseau--two major hitters for social contract theory. I have posted links to the following works (just click on the titles)--if you'd prefer a .pdf from a non-online edition, please contact me (Rachel) through the blog site or via e-mail and I can send some your way. However I've checked these against my scholarly editions, and they check out! We'll be reading two major/central texts for discussion--I've included others for those who want to take on a heavier load!


Two Central Texts for Discussion:

Locke, Second Treatise of Government
Rousseau, The Social Contract

Peripheral Texts for Discussion:

Locke, First Treatise of Government
Rousseau, A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality
Rousseau, Reveries of the Solitary Walker


We will be meeting same time/place: Wednesday, February 20th @ the Pour House (on Kirkwood Ave) from 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. 

Please invite people from across time periods, specialties, and departments: the more interdisciplinary the group, the more dynamic the conversation!