Unit information: Satire in 2013/14

Unit name	Satire
Unit code	ENGL20022
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Publicover
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None.
Co-requisites	None.
School/department	Department of English
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit examines the evolution of satire, beginning in the Classical period (with Juvenal and Horace), moving through Renaissance and Restoration satire (both dramatic and poetic), spending considerable time on the Augustans, and finishing in the twenty-first century. We will be especially concerned with the question of interventionism: does the satirist believe that they can change the world by attacking folly, or is ‘true’ satire laughter in the dark? What do attempts to censor satire (such as the Bishops’ Ban of 1599) suggest about its efficacy? We will also examine the satirical ‘voice’, and consider the kinds of relationship that the satirist establishes with his or her readers—ones that range from conspiracy to aggression. Finally, the unit will explore texts where satirists turn on their fellow authors to produce that cruellest form of all: parody.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit students will have (1) developed a detailed knowledge and critical understanding of satire’s development as a form, its relationship to its readers, its cultural context and impact, and the works of some of its major practitioners; (2) in-depth knowledge of some of the critical approaches that have been taken to satire (this is a field recently re-invigorated by the Cambridge Swift Project); (3) demonstrated the ability to analyse and evaluate differing critical accounts of the primary literature; (4) demonstrated the ability to identify and evaluate pertinent evidence in order to illustrate/demonstrate a cogent argument. 5) strengthened their skills in argumentation and academic writing.

Teaching Information

1 x 2-hour seminar per week.

Assessment Information

One short essay of 2000 words (33.3%) and one long essay of 4000 words (66.7%). Both summative elements will assess (1) knowledge and understanding of satire as a form; test (2) students’ understanding of the cultural context of satire, and of critical approaches to it. In addition the essays will test (3, 4 and 5) students’ ability to analyse and assess competing accounts of the primary texts; their ability to adduce pertinent textual material in support of their argument and their ability to present that argument lucidly and in accordance with academic conventions.

Reading and References

• Ben Jonson, The Alchemist (any ed.)

• Jonathan Swift, Major Works, ed. by Angus Ross and David Woolley (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003)

• John Gay, The Beggar’s Opera, ed. by Vivien Jones and David Lindley (London: A&C Black, 2010)

• Frances Burney, Evelina, ed. by Vivien Jones (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002)

• Philip Roth, Our Gang (Starring Tricky and his Friends) (London: Vintage, 1971)

• Nicholas Hudson and Aaron Santesso (eds.), Swift’s Travels: Eighteenth-Century British Satire and its Legacy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008)