Escaping with Jean Valjean from Javert: March 28--April 1

Pursuing the Poetic Vision of Victor Hugo

Monday

Finish Simon Schama's Discussion of the Failures and Successes of the British Empire

Notes on Robert Clive and the Subjugation of India
Background to the French Revolution
Observations from Les Miserables

Tuesday
Begin Simon Schama on "Forces of Nature"
The French Revolution--Earlier Stages
Discussion of Les Miserables

Wednesday
Continue Simon Schama on "Forces of Nature"
The French Revolution--The Radical Stages
Notes on Les Miserables

Thursday

The French Revolution--Thermidor and Beyond

Key Themes and Character from Les Miserables

Friday

Why Britain did not have a French Revolution

Film:  Amazing Grace

Readings

Les Miserables

Western Civilization, Chapter 19, pages 528--524

Writing Assignments

Rough Draft of Jane Austen Paper

or

Rough Draft of "What We Should Learn from the French Revolution"

 "He [the revolutionary] is damned always to do that which is most repugnant to him: to become a slaughterer, to sacrifice lambs so that no more lambs may be slaughtered, to whip people with knouts so that they may learn not to let themselves by whipped, to strip himself of every scruple in the name of a higher scrupulousness, and to challenge the hatred of mankind because of his love for it - an abstract and geometric love."
Paul Johnson, The Spectator"