Syllabus


          Given the small size of this course and potential cost of the core course texts, I have ordered only one textbook:

Elizabeth Castro, HTML for the World Wide Web, 5th Ed. (Berkeley: Peachpit Press, 2003)

Other texts are either available online (through the open-access web, or through the electronic Library catalogue of D. B. Weldon Library), or will be made available in photocopy.The following four works have been put on 3-day course reserve at Weldon: it is recommended that you take these out well in advance (to avoid the rush), and read or photocopy appropriate parts.

Finneran, Richard J., ed. The Literary Text in the Digital Age. Editorial Theory and Literary Criticism. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1996.

McGann, Jerome J. Critique of Modern Textual Criticism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983. Repr. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1992.

——. Radiant Textuality: Literature after the World Wide Web. New York; Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave, 2001.

D. F. McKenzie, Bibliography and the Sociology of Texts. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge UP, 1999.

Assignment Guidelines

Seminars

           Seminars should be between 25 and 30 minutes long. Evaluation will be based both upon the content and presentation of your seminar, with about two-thirds of the mark deriving from the former. The portion of your mark devoted to presentation is particularly based upon overall coherence and structure.
          The key aim of these seminars is to generate discussion. While you do need a thesis, try not to produce an argument so tightly conclusive that it precludes or stifles all discussion afterward. Please do not read a prepared "paper," unless it really is your intent to bore your fellow students senseless. Use notes (probably in point form) to guide you through your presentation. Try to maintain eye contact with your audience as much as possible, and focus upon keeping your audience engaged. At the same time, remember that an oral argument is more difficult to follow than a written one, and that your presentation must be correspondingly clear and coherent. Don't be afraid to repeat really important points.
          Your thesis for this seminar is entirely up to you. Avoid merely providing a plot-summary, or doing little more than providing background/historical information. Historical and philosophical contexts are vital, but only insofar as they illuminate the text. Your seminar will probably include a brief statement about the intellectual "history" of the work or concept being discussed, but your real focus should be upon bringing out some particularly interesting facet of the text that is not obvious at first reading.

Research Essay


          Ideally, the research essay builds upon your oral seminar presentation, but your topic and thesis may, in fact, build upon any of the works we are examining, and any theme relevant to sexuality and libertinism in the Restoration. The research essay should be approximately 8-10 pages in length (about 2000-2500 words), and is due 30 November.
          This should be, of course, a formal essay, with all that this implies. It must, in other words, be structured around a focussed and coherent central thesis. As a research essay, it should, of course, also employ relevant secondary sources. I am setting no specific requirements for the number of such sources that must be employed, but it is important to demonstrate some awareness of the critical context around the work(s) and themes you are examining.

Hypertext Project


          Your hypertext project can be built around any number of subjects or ideas. It may be an electronic "edition" of some existing (short) work of literature, an online "essay," a work of creative fiction, poetry, or drama, or even a "game" of some sort. There are three key requirements:

1) You must discuss your proposal with me (and receive my approval for it) by Wednesday, 2 November, 2005.

2) It must be a project that is, in some way, particularly suited to a hypertext format. In other words, an electronic version of an otherwise conventional work of creative writing or essay is not acceptable.

3) Each project must be accompanied by a brief (500-750 word) critical discussion (including, where appropriate, scholarly citations) that places your work within the context of "hypertext."

The project must be completed by 7 December. It should be submitted in electronic form (usually on a CD-ROM).

Penalties for Late Work


          Essays should be brought to class and handed in on the date specified above. Late essays will be penalized at the rate of one percentage point for each working day that they are late, to a maximum of ten points. Essays submitted more than two weeks late will not be accepted unless accompanied by an acceptable reason for the delay (e.g., a medical certificate). Late essays may be submitted to me in person, or at one of the Department of English Essay Drop-off Boxes outside the English Office (UC 173); essays slid under my office door will not be marked.
          Please keep a copy of your essay.

Presentation of Written Work


          The guidelines for layout that appear in the more recent editions of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers are recommended for both your review and research essays, although the Chicago Manual of Style is also acceptable. Written work should be submitted double-spaced, preferably typewritten or computer-printed. Use one side of the paper only, with 1 inch margins for all four edges. Use a font size that will permit no more than about 250 words per page. Submit the work fastened by a paper clip rather than staples; do not have it "bound." Text should be justified only to the left margin.
          The review essay should be include, directly below the review title, a bibliographical citation for the work being reviewed, in proper MLA or Chicago format.

Documentation


          All documentation (including that which appears in your hypertext edition) should follow the guidelines set out in one of the more recent editions of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (use the fourth edition or later) or the Chicago Manual of Style. Please be sure to include a list of "Works Consulted".