Forms of happiness: hedonism, individuality, and virtue in 18th-century literature

Aims

This course aims to:

•    understand the contours of key debates about happiness in the 18th century, exploring them through the lens of literary texts

•    recognise how these key debates about happiness were shaped by the history and culture 
of the period

•    consider the influence of 18th-century literary forms on conceptions of happiness and, more generally, to speculate on the relationship between literary forms and forms of life

Content

Today, happiness is often understood as a species of pleasure or as the fulfilment of subjective desires. These, at least, are the orthodox conceptions among economists, psychologists and policy makers seeking to improve public wellbeing. But it has not always been that way.

It has been said that the 18th century translated the religious question “how can I be saved?” into the secular “how can I be happy?”’ This course explores how writers in the period grappled with that question and how, in doing so, they responded to the changing forms of life brought about 
by the rise of commerce and scientific thinking; by a new emphasis on individual freedom and personal expression; and by a declining faith in the summum bonum (the highest good). By attending to a variety of literary responses, those who take this course will come to better understand the historical contours that have shaped modern conceptions of the good life. Particular attention will be devoted to the ways in which, in the 18th century, new emphases 
on pleasure and individuality challenged the traditional association of happiness 
with Christian virtue.

Furthermore, they will be encouraged to reflect upon the ways in which the answers that are given to the question “how can I be happy?” are shaped by the differing forms that such an inquiry can take. To that end, after an introductory lecture on day one, the following four lectures will each be loosely grouped around a specific literary form or forms. A hypothesis to be tested is whether, in the 18th century, there is relationship between literary form and forms of life, whether the analysis of periodicals, life writing, novels, political pamphlets, and Romantic poetry can tell us something about the way in which happiness was thought.

Presentation of the course

 The course will be delivered through a series of 5 sessions. 

Course sessions

1.    Introduction: Happiness in 18th-Century Culture
We will explore how Enlightenment thinkers challenged the classical and Christian conception of happiness as virtue, placing an unprecedented emphasis upon pleasure and individuality. We will also explore how 18th-century print culture reflected these developments.

2.    Ordinary Lives: Happiness and Life Writing
The second lecture will explore the 18th century’s “affirmation of ordinary life”, that is, its newly discovered interest in the lives of common people. We will also explore how life writing—letters, diaries, and autobiographies¬—led to a deepening of interiority, as men and women began to spend more time reflecting upon their inner lives and emotions.

3.    Happy Endings and the 18th-Century Novel
Spoiler alert! This lecture will focus on the happy endings of novels, particularly those that culminate in marriage.  

4.    Radicals and Conservatives: Happiness in The French Revolution’s Pamphlet Wars
Lecture four will explore how happiness featured in the political debates that crystallised around the French Revolution, exploring works by contributors to the pamphlet wars of the 1790s.

5.    Romantic Poetry and the Good Life
In our final lecture, we will explore a range of different ideas about happiness found in Romantic poetry. William Wordsworth and Lord Byron will be contrasted for their differing perspectives on the nature of the good life

Learning outcomes

You are expected to gain from this series of classroom sessions a greater understanding of the subject and of the core issues and arguments central to the course.

The learning outcomes for this course are:

•    to explore the emergence of competing ideas about happiness in 18th-century literature

•    to understand the contours of key debates about happiness in the 18th century and to recognise how they were shaped by the history and culture of the period

•    to consider the influence of 18th-century literary forms on conceptions of happiness and, 
more generally, to speculate on the relationship between literary forms and forms of life