Presentation Topics

          In preparing our schedule of twelve-to-fifteen minute presentations for the quarter, we will choose items from the "Primary Topics" list first (the initial twenty entries) until all of them have been exhausted before picking topics from the sixteen items on the "Secondary Topics" list.   I have already mapped out the bibliographies for you (see the "First List Biblio." and "Second List Biblio." buttons to the left).   Under "Primary Topics" (below), I have ordered the items according to their chronological relevance.   Go to "Presentations" (key on left) for more information.

          We will try to organize these presentations to coincide with the week's reading assignments: the dates in parentheses indicate when that topic should be covered.   Appearing in bold turquoise are the topics that require a team of two to cover adequately (2).   In cases in which two people take the same topic, they should work together.   It goes without saying that they should make every effort to avoid duplicating material.

          Whenever possible, link the subject and the specifics of your presentation with the texts we have already read.   If images exist on this web site that have relevance for your topic, definitely talk about them.   This last point is especially true for those delivering presentations on medical knowledge (Oct. 11 and Nov. 22) and the Dutch invasion (Oct. 16).

          Bonus points:   Students willing to do a presentation very early in the quarter (Oct. 11th and 16th) will receive bonus points worth one grade for the assignment.   In other words, a presentation that ordinarily would have received a B(85%) will receive an A(95%).   Students willing to take the October 18th and 23rd presentation assignments will receive bonus points worth half a grade (a presentation ordinarily receiving a B(85%) will receive an A-(90%).
          Primary Topics
  1. (2)   Medical Knowledge, Gender, and the Body: PART ONE--the "one-sex" model (Oct. 11)


  2. Patriarchalism (Oct. 11)


  3. The Skimmington & Charivari / Male Fear of Women on Top (Oct. 11)


  4. (2)   The Dutch Invasion of 1688 (Oct. 16)


  5. Gender during the Restoration--1660-1688 (Oct. 18)


  6. (2)   The "Restoration" Stage--1660-1710 (Oct. 18)


  7. (2)   Literature and 1688 (Oct. 23)


  8. John Locke and Liberalism (Oct. 23)


  9. Mary Astell and Liberalism (Oct. 23)


  10. The Societies for the Reformation of Manners (Oct. 30)


  11. Reform of Male Manners (Oct. 30)


  12. Conduct Books and the Construction of Femininity (Oct. 30)


  13. Marriage & Divorce / Marriage Law in 18th-Century Britain (Oct. 30)


  14. Daniel Defoe and the Status of Women (Nov. 1)


  15. The Rise of the Novel (Nov. 8)


  16. Epistolarity (Nov. 13)


  17. Sentiment / Sensibility (Nov. 15)


  18. The Samuel Richardson-Henry Fielding Rivalry (Nov. 20)


  19. Medical Knowledge, Gender, and the Body, PART TWO--emergence of the "two-sex" model (Nov. 22)


  20. Lovelace's Dream (Nov. 29)
         Secondary Topics
  1. The Fall of John Dryden


  2. Women under 17th-Century Patriarchalism (Oct. 23-Nov. 8)


  3. Women's Labor in Britain, 1660-1750 (after Oct. 30)


  4. The Gender Divide in Working Class Poetry (after Nov. 1)


  5. Anne Finch (Oct. 11)


  6. Lady Mary Chudleigh (Oct. 23)


  7. (2)   Vanbrugh and / or Farquhar (Oct. 16-Oct. 30)


  8. Effeminacy (Oct. 16-Oct. 30)


  9. Cuckolds & Cuckoldry (Oct. 16-Oct. 30)


  10. The Fop (Oct. 16-Oct. 30)


  11. (2)   Four Female Playwrights (1695-1720)--Mary Pix, Catherine Trotter, Delariviere Manley, and Susannah Centlivre (Oct. 16-Oct. 30)


  12. (2)   Male and Female Libertines (Nov. 13 and after)


  13. The Moral Reformation of the Stage (Oct. 25 / 30)


  14. Was King William III a Sodomite? (Oct. 18-25)


  15. Lesbianism during the Restoration & the Eighteenth-Century


  16. (2)   Male Homosexuality / The "Molly" Subculture (Oct. 18-25)

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  last modified: 09/25/00