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The Eighteenth Century. Enlightenment & the Revolution. Authors: Cotton Mather Ben Franklin Themes Tradition & Change Humor Responses Group 3. “Enlightenment”. Term coined by human beings Implies people in prior periods were “in the dark” Also referred to as the “Age of Reason”
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The Eighteenth Century Enlightenment & the Revolution
Authors: • Cotton Mather • Ben Franklin • Themes • Tradition & Change • Humor • Responses • Group 3
“Enlightenment” • Term coined by human beings • Implies people in prior periods were “in the dark” • Also referred to as the “Age of Reason” • Label for intellectual history more than social history & history of material culture • See Heath intro (565 ff)
Cotton Mather1663-1728 • Biographical sketch (507) • Literary overview (509) • Self-fashioning • Form—content--function
Form—content--function • Passages fromWonders of the Invisible World • [Devil Attacks the People of God] (509) • Stated Purposes (511) • Stated Perspective (511) • “Testimony” of children (512) • Memorandum (514)
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) • Biographical sketch • Literary overview • (805-6)
“Witch Trial” & “Polly Baker” • Reflections of • 18th c. • Humor • Passages (814-815)
Humor:Form—content—function • Form: • Gross exaggeration • Roll reversal (the unexpected rather than the socially acceptable) • Recognizable reality • Function: • Entertainment (through escape from reality) • Social Change (through distorted vision of reality)
Next Time: • Group 4 Responses • Abstract: Sarah Wynn • No “selected poetry” • Sarah Kimble Knight’s Journal • Consider as: • Travel Narrative • Woman’s Narrative • Narrative of the 18th century
Reading Strategies • What marks it as “female”? • How does it compare to other “travel” accounts? • How does the humor “work”? • Select 3 passages: • What most surprises you? • What most confuses you? • What is the funniest part?