ENG 466 Sympathy and Torture
Professor L. Cole
415 Luther Bonney
780-4093; lcole@maine.rr.com
As a seminar, this
course is designed to allow students to explore a fairly narrow topic in some
detail; our focus will be on the relationship between sympathy and torture in
the early modern period, and especially in the eighteenth century. My own interest
in this topic derives from an historical peculiarity and the questions it
raises. Unlike other European countries, where torture was widely practiced as
part of the judicial system, England was ruled by common law, according to
which torture was illegal. At the same time, it is also true that at least
until the late 1700s, and despite the adoption of common law, English kings and
queens tortured their subjects under something called a Aroyal prerogative@ on a fairly regular basis. It took some two
hundred years for this discrepancy to be resolved. This class begins by
examining that Apre-history@: how legal torture is represented in the turbulent 16th and
17th centuries, particularly in the work of Webster and Dryden. Next
we turn to the issue of national identity and to the18th Century,
when writers began to forge the notion.that the English were characterized by a
more refined moral sensibility than were their European counterparts, by a
greater benevolence or sympathy. To
what extent was a discourse of torture, we shall ask, necessary to the creation
of this new national identity? How did the English reconcile it with their own
bloody past? As we shall see, these fairly straightforward historical and
interpretive questions will lead us into a host of other issuesBsexuality, race, ethnicityBand, ideally, will help establish a
foundation for understanding why the theory and practice of torture is still a
significant dimension of international politics.
Required Texts:
In Bookstore:
Edward Peters, Torture (University of Pennsylvania Press)
John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (Norton New Mermaids)
Aphra Behn, Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave (Norton)
Samuel Richardson, Clarissa (Norton)
Ann Radcliffe, The Italian (Norton)
Alan Richardson, ed.. Three Oriental Tales (Houghton Mifflin)
Online Texts:
John Dryden, Amboyna
Theobald, The Fatal Secret
Instructor=s Packet:
These are articles and short pieces available at copy cost from the
Department of English.
Classroom
Matters:
Reading: The success of a seminar is largely
dependent on the thoughtful participation of its students. All students are
expected to come to class only having read the assigned material, but having
taken the time to think through it. You should read with a highlighter or
pencil in hand, noting important passages or ideas, and reminding yourself of
questions you wish to raise in class.
Grades: Your grade will be based upon two short
essays (5-7 pages) and a research paper (12-20 pages). As is apparent from the
above description, this course is organized around a thesis: that the
discourses of sympathy and the discourses of torture are historically
intertwined, both playing a role in early modern English identity. But the idea
of a seminar is to provide a context for students to explore and develop their
own insights about a body of material. Given that, I will assign a paper topic
only for the first graded essay. Afterwards, students are encouraged to pursue
their own research interests. The
research paper, due at semester=s end, mayBand
probably should--incorporate material from the previous writing, but it should
also demonstrate an effort to supplement pervious essays with material, either
primary or critical, that we did not discuss in class. I will be working you
over the course of the semester to help you develop the topic for your final
paper and will provide a list of recommended readings.
All papers should be
typed in 12-point font and should conform to guidelines set forth in the MLA
handbook on style. Please leave margins of one inch on both sides.
In-class and
impromptu writing assignments:
On the theory that students should receive frequent feedback, you will
sometimes be asked to write short response papers which will serve as the basis
of classroom discussion. These papers will be checked rather than graded, but
their successful completion is necessary to passing this course.
Attendance: No student missing more than three classes
may pass this course. Please attempt to attend every class meeting. If your
absence is unavoidable, you should contact a classmate for notes, handouts, and
syllabus changes. I will give you the opportunity to exchange phone numbers
during the first week of class.
Late papers and
incompletes: The class is
organized so as to minimize the possibility of late papers, and except under
the most unusual, unavoidable, and documented of circumstances, I no longer
give incompletes. Please keep this in mind as you are planning your semester.
Late essays will be marked down one letter grade for every week they are
overdue. Papers postmarked on the due date will not be penalized.
Conferences and
Office Hours: I will be in
my office on Mondays, Tuesday, and Wednesdays, hours to be announced. Should
you need to meet outside of regular office hours, that can usually be
arranged. Speak with me after class or contact me via email. Email, rather than
the phone, is always the best way to keep in touch with me.
Proposed Schedule
of Readings and Assignments
DRAFT
Please note that the
below is subject to change depending on class interests and progress.
September 2 Introduction
and Film
September 9 Peters,
pages 1-102; from the Theodisian Code 212-14 (in Peters); from the Digest
of Justinian 215-23 (in Peters); from the Code of Justinian 224-28
(in Peters).
September 16
Webster, The Duchess of Malfi; Augustine from The City of God (in
Peters); from The
Visigothic Code: On Torture (in Peters); ATorture by Inquistors@ (in Peters); The Constitutio Crimnalis Carolina (in
Peters)
September 23 Dryden,
Amboyna (on line)
September 30 Behn, Oroonoko
October 7 Paper
due: Shaftesbury, Locke, material on toleration, excerpt from Colonel Jack
October 14 No
class
October 21 Theobald,
The Fatal Secret (on line)
October 28 Adam
Smith, from The Theory of Moral Sentiments
November 4 Clarissa
November 11 No
class
November 18 Second
Paper Due; The Italian
November 25 ChinaBoriental tales
December 2 TBA
December 9
Reports on final projects
PLEASE NOTE THAT
THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.