Overview

"The early modern period will be defined here as the centuries from Gutenberg to Diderot’, Peter Burke, A Social History of Knowledge,(Cambridge: Polity, 2000), p.11.

Media historians have argued that the age of print is coming to an end: but how did it begin? This course will explore the development of print culture by close reading of eighteenth-century British and American printed texts, including newspapers, pamphlets, ballads, printed images, magazines and fiction. We will show how the conventions of the printed page, and how to read it, evolved over time. We will find ways of reading our own print culture's newspapers, graphic novels, fliers and posters through an understanding of their beginnings. Topics will include the rise of the professional author; the invention of copyright; street literature; print and politics; and journalism and the news. This course will serve as an introduction to Early Modern English studies and to the close reading of diverse forms of textual culture.

Area Fulfillment Information

This course Satisfies second half of GE requirement for area A and is required for all English majors and recommended for English minors.