長十八世紀英國文學與失能書寫(文類課:其他)

This course explores the representation of disability, illness, and bodily suffering in British literature from approximately 1688 to 1832, a period shaped by Enlightenment thought, shifting medical discourses, and imperial expansion. The long eighteenth century witnessed increasing literary engagement with bodily difference, as authors grappled with questions of physical normality, social marginalization, and the intersection of disability with moral, economic, and aesthetic values. At the core of this course is the concept of disability writing, which challenges conventional narratives of health and deformity, examining how literary texts construct and contest ideas of bodily impairment. We will analyze a range of genres—including novels, poetry, drama, and non-fiction prose—considering how disability was framed within sentimental, satirical, and Gothic traditions. Key texts include Tristram Shandy (1759–1767), which humorously interrogates physical and cognitive difference; Frankenstein (1818), which raises questions about bodily abnormality and societal rejection; and the poetry of Alexander Pope, whose own disability shaped his poetic persona. Additionally, we will examine essays by William Hay and autobiographical writings by figures such as Sarah Biffin, assessing how disability was both narrated and experienced. By situating disability within the broader literary movements of the period—such as Neoclassicism, Sensibility, and the rise of the novel—we will explore how suffering bodies functioned within medical, philosophical, and colonial discourses. Students will engage with foundational theoretical perspectives from disability studies, feminist theory, and eighteenth-century cultural criticism, analyzing how literary representations of disability intersected with contemporary anxieties about health, identity, class, gender, and race. Through close reading of primary texts and engagement with medical treatises, periodicals, and satirical pamphlets, students will develop a critical awareness of how disability functioned as both a social construct and a literary motif. By the end of the course, they will be able to interrogate disability as an aesthetic and narrative category, assessing its role in shaping notions of normality, otherness, and human worth in long eighteenth-century British literature.

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∎ Attendance and Class Participation (20%) Active engagement in class discussions and consistent attendance are essential to creating a dynamic learning environment. ∎ Weekly Reading Responses (10%) Short reflective pieces based on the assigned readings, aimed at fostering engagement and encouraging critical analysis. ∎ Midterm Oral Presentation (30%) An analytical presentation on a previously discussed text, demonstrating a clear understanding of the material and the ability to offer critical interpretation. ∎ Final Examination (40%) A comprehensive assessment evaluating students’ grasp of key themes, concepts, and analytical approaches covered throughout the course.

Adams, Rachel, Benjamin Reiss and David Serlin, ed. Keywords for Disability Studies. New York and London: New York University Press, 2015. Craton, Lillian. The Victorian Freak Show: The Significance of Disability and Physical Differences in 19th-Century Fiction. Amherst, New York: Cambria Press, 2009. Davis, Lennard J. “Constructing Normalcy: The Bell Curve, the Novel, and the Invention of the Disabled Body in the Nineteenth Century.” Beyond Bioethics: Toward a New Biopolitics. Ed. Obasogie, Osagie K., and Marcy Darnovsky. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2018. 63-72. Durbach, Nadja. The Spectacle of Deformity: Freak Shows and Modern British Culture. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2009. Gabbard, D. Christopher, and Susannah B. Mintz, ed. A Cultural History of Disability in the Long Eighteenth Century. New York: Bloomsbury 2022. Lee, Elizabeth. “Charles Lang Freer: Collecting the Disabled Body.” The Routledge Companion to Art and Disability. Ed. Watson, Keri, and Timothy W. Hiles. New York: Routledge, 2022. 204-23. Mounsey, Chris, ed. The Idea of Disability in the Eighteenth Century. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2014. Siebers, Tobin. Disability Theory. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2008. Turner, David M. Disability in Eighteenth-Century England: Imagining Physical Impairment. New York and Oxon: Routledge, 2012. 安伯托.艾可(Umberto Eco)《醜的歷史》(History of Ugliness).台北市: 聯經, 2007. 孫小玉. 失能研究與生命書寫. 高雄市: 國立中山大學出版社, 2014. ---. 雨後霓虹:失能者的生命故事. 高雄市: 國立中山大學出版社, 2021.

地點

人社三館R410

時間

By appointment

聯絡方式

kchiu@nycu.edu.tw