Eighteenth-Century Novel (eng 3480)
paper 1 assignment

Write on one of the following topics or come up with your own topic. If you choose to develop your own topic, please run it by me by Monday (2/5). Each topic is broad and will require you to come up with a particular argument that addresses its concerns. I will be happy to discuss your paper with you at any stage, from brain-storming to draft-reading.

Papers should be 4-5 pages, double-spaced, in a standard font, with standard margins, etc. Title pages are not necessary. Secondary sources are not required, or even particularly recommended, for his paper, but if you do use them, please follow MLA style. Course texts may be cited simply by page number in the text (Defoe, 29). Other works should be cited in endnotes like this:

Dean, Dan, Book Title (Chicago: Someold Press, 1991).
Moskvitz, Judy, "Essay Title," in Collection, ed. Ed Jones (New York: Norton, 1998).
Upton, Thomas, "Recalling Poetics," Journal of Literary Analysis 25 (1994).

topic 1

The space between Oroonoko and Moll Flanders is the space of the novel’s emergence. Compare the two works in terms of (one of the following): narrative voice, characterization, setting, purpose of work. Be specific, support your claims with passages from the text.

topic 2

Discuss how the prefatory material of Oroonoko and Moll Flanders relates to the story. Do the two texts set up the same kinds of problems at their openings? Are they addressing the same problems? Do their stories do the same thing? Be specific, support your claims with passages from the text.

topic 3

Both Oroonoko and Moll Flanders mix, without fully integrating, various kinds of stories/writing. Discuss what the text brings together, the effect of juxtaposing these different kinds of narrative, and how it affects the final product. (This topic should probably focus on one novel only.) Be specific, support your claims with passages from the text.

topic 4

Develop your own topic involving some kind of comparison between Oroonoko and Moll Flanders. If you choose this, the topic must be approved by Monday (9/18). Be specific, support your claims with passages from the text.

On Wednesday (2/7) bring your rough draft to class. These will collected and redistributed to classmates for revision in our workshop. This will allow each of you to practice revision on someone else’s paper and have the benefit of someone else’s comments on your own. (You may of course keep your paper anonymous.)

Revised, final drafts are due in class on Friday (2/9)—please hand in your draft along with your final paper.

things to keep in mind:

Your analysis should begin with a specific claim (the point you want to make about it), and then a discussion of the text that supports your claim. Discussion should be focussed on details and specifics of the text. Avoid generalizations and especially unsupported ones.

Note the order: your analysis should be organized by a point and your discussions should refer back to that point.

But also note that your claim may not be apparent to you until you’ve actually written your account of the text/passage. Drafts are occasions to work out your understanding of the material. And if you don’t know exactly what your main claim is at the beginning, that’s ok. Start writing about what is happening and you will (really!) arrive at something by the end of your discussion.

It is the work of editing to rearrange your analysis into a reader-friendly format that will allow the reader to see your claim and follow your discussion as an explanation of that point. The points that come first in your final draft are often what you arrive at last in your early draft.