Power and place are two driving themes not only in the British literary tradition, but in all literary traditions.  The history and culture of Great Britain has been influenced greatly by its location—separated from the rest of Europe by the English Channel—and by its form of government—monarchy that was tempered historically by long-established traditions of decentralized rule.

Your reading assignment this summer involves two works that are indeed British but also look outside of England as their authors knew it to places that exist only in the imagination.  Both works illuminate the nature of power and place, though each author presents very different scenarios for the examination of these themes.  Both explore the nature of power and its tendency to devolve into corruption, contradiction, and acts of violence against others.  Both also explore cultural, political, and geographical landscapes where the struggle for power is the dominant feature. 

Reading Assignment:

The Tempest, William Shakespeare (please use Folger edition)

1984, George Orwell

The setting of The Tempest is an uncharted island, and the play has been interpreted in varying and sometimes contradictory ways.  Is Prospero a tyrant who abuses power and manipulates others to get what he wants, or does Prospero’s island present a vision of a utopian paradise?  Is this the first work of science fiction in the English language, or is it a simple albeit sensationalized travelogue written to reflect the experiences of travelers in the age of exploration?

1984 presents a clearly oppressive dystopian society set in a future that Orwell, writing in the 1940s, imagined might await for us.  Other than a few technological details, though, there is nothing in Orwell’s book that did not already exist in some form or another in the world he lived in.

 WRITING ASSIGNMENTS:  

1.   RESPONSES: From each book, copy two quotations that you find particularly meaningful.  Write a well-developed one-paragraph response to each quotation.  Explain how the quotation develops an essential insight into the personality of a character, how it develops one of the book’s major themes (discussed above), or how it represents a particular quality of style or tone.  (20 points)

2.   VOCABULARY: Create a list of ten words whose meaning or usage you are not familiar with.  Make sure that these are words the meaning of which you will find useful in your future.  (Don’t pick obscure words from Shakespeare just because the meaning is presented in the explanatory notes!—I won’t count these!)  Define each word, provide the part of speech, and quote the line where you found the word (include title of book and page number or act, scene, and line number).  For words that have multiple definitions, be sure that you provide the definition that makes sense in context.  (10 points)

3.   CREATIVE WRITING: Write a typed page from the perspective of a character from one of these books.  Be creative, but also prove to me that you know the character in question and understand his or her motivation, values, and style of speaking.  (20 points)

ESSAY: After we spend a few days discussing the summer reading, you will be expected to write an analytical essay; the topic will be discussed in class beforehand.