Exam questions for the course “English Literature of the 17th-18th century”

(Module 2)

13. Enlightenment as a new stage in culture and literature of England: Augustan age
and the Age of Reason.
14*. Robinson Crusoe’s story as the start of the robinsonade as a genre.
15. Daniel Defoe’s innovative ideas for the English novel of the early 18 th century.
Reason and Emotion in the story of Crusoe’s rescue
16.Island as a purgatory or the way to redemption in “The Story of Robinson Crusoe”.
Elements of Utopia in the novel.
17.Give your comments to the statement: Nature versus Civilization in Defoe’s novel
about Crusoe.
18* Crusoe and the Other: his attitude to Xury and to Man Friday.
19. J.Swift’s novel “Gulliver’s Travels” as a challenge to the 18th century British
novel.
20.What features of contemporary life in Britain can we trace in Gulliver’s Travels
21* Can we trace elements of J.Swift’s personal experience in Gulliver as a
protagonist? Give at least 2 examples from the novel.
22. The comic and the serious in Swift’s representation of a ‘topsy-turvey world’ in
Books I & 2 of “Gulliver’s Travels”.
23.*How has Gulliver’s role been changed in Books 3& 4 of “Gulliver’s Travels”?
24. How did Swift explore philosophical oppositions of power/ violence in Book 3& 4
of “Gulliver’s Travels”?
25.Did Swift challenge the idea “Nature is an ideal mother of Mankind” in “Gulliver’s
Travels”?
26.How do you understand the function a of reversed irony in “Gulliver’s Travels”?
27*.Compare Robinson and Gulliver as reliable and/or unreliable narrators.

Comments:
1. Questions 14,18,21,23,27 are marked with an asterisk(*) which means that you have
them as the 3rd assignment in exam card (10 points for it). As before, a stress in
your answer should be made on the textual analysis of the topic mentioned.
2. In most of the Questions please consider the influence of the main concepts of the
Age of Reason on the message of the text :
- reliance on the positive role of experience;
- preference to write in objective way, even in representation of fantastic objects;
- intertexual links with the intellectual heritage of Renaissance;
3. Think of the role of a dialogue in the novels: Crusoe with Friday; Gulliver with the
King of Brobbdingnag, or with his Master in the Book 4.
4. Question 16 deals not only with the role of Crusoe’s spiritual turn to God. In the test
practically no one remembered that the concept of space in the literary text may be
open /closed, urban/rural, real / fantastic.
5. Assignment in Question 27 is not just to say yes or no. There are literary means to
make the narrative reliable – writing a diary, using the memory and retrospective, fix
in the narrative one’s dreams, fears, pain, anger, despair . And if the author is writing
in the comic, ironic tone, using satirical exaggeration – does it make the narrative
unreliable. Think of it please.