Teaching The Eighteenth Century

Inspired by the conversations of like-minded professors interested in promoting eighteenth-century literature through informed, innovative teaching, this collection began as a series of presentations at the South Central Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Conference. Covering a range of texts and strategies—from a genre-based approach to early novels, to an argument for student-teacher collaboration engaging Shen Fu’s Six Records of a Floating Life—the collection aims to participate in larger conversations about the “best practices” of teaching eighteenth-century texts in the undergraduate classroom. With an eye toward energizing further pedagogical dialogue about this important period, the authors share a wealth of experience and practical advice about the joys and pitfalls of teaching Western and non-Western texts to students relatively unfamiliar with early-modern literature.