After holding a position at the University of Iowa, Deborah Laycock, a specialist in Restoration and eighteenth-century literature, came to Kenyon College in 1991. She has since developed Canadian literature as a field for research and teaching.
Laycock is currently completing a book manuscript entitled An Eighteenth-Century Sense of Place: The Urban Pastoral and has begun work on a project examining gender and metamorphosis in early modern culture, an early version of which has appeared in an essay in Textual Bodies: Changing Boundaries of Literary Representation (SUNY Press, 1997). She has served as the Chair of the Committee on Academic Standards and has twice served as resident director of the Kenyon-Exeter Program at the University of Exeter.
Areas of Expertise
Restoration drama, eighteenth-century British literature and culture, Canadian literature.
Education
1987 — Doctor of Philosophy from Stanford University
1979 — Master of Arts from Univ British Columbia
1977 — Bachelor of Arts from University of Alberta
Courses Recently Taught
ENGL 103
Introduction to Literature and Language
ENGL 103
Each section of these first-year seminars approaches the study of literature through the exploration of a single theme in texts drawn from a variety of literary genres (such as tragedy, comedy, lyric poetry, epic, novel, short story, film and autobiography) and historical periods. Classes are small, offering intensive discussion and close attention to each student's writing. Students in each section are asked to work intensively on composition as part of a rigorous introduction to reading, thinking, speaking and writing about literary texts. During the semester, instructors will assign frequent essays and may also require oral presentations, quizzes, examinations and research projects. This course is not open to juniors and seniors without permission of the department chair. Offered every year.
ENGL 104
Introduction to Literature and Language
ENGL 104
Each section of these first-year seminars approaches the study of literature through the exploration of a single theme in texts drawn from a variety of literary genres (such as tragedy, comedy, lyric poetry, epic, novel, short story, film and autobiography) and historical periods. Classes are small, offering intensive discussion and close attention to each student's writing. Students in each section are asked to work intensively on composition as part of a rigorous introduction to reading, thinking, speaking and writing about literary texts. During the semester, instructors will assign frequent essays and may also require oral presentations, quizzes, examinations and research projects. This course is not open to juniors and seniors without permission of department chair. Offered every year.
ENGL 240
Early 18th-Century Literature
ENGL 240
We will begin this course by spending several weeks on Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" (examining in passing another work of the 18th century inspired by "Gulliver's Travels", "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen"). Satire is one of the predominant forms of the 18th century and finds its grotesque complement in the graphic arts. We will study various examples of visual satire -- notably the "progress" narratives of William Hogarth. We will examine the emergence of the novel in this period, focusing on its multi-generic character. We will explore the overlapping of categories -- history and fiction, travel and novel, news and novels, philosophy and fiction -- in works such as Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels", Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's epistolary account of her travels to Turkey, Eliza Haywood's spy/masquerade novel "Fantomina", and Susanna Centlivre's play about metamorphosis, "A Bold Stroke for a Wife". Periodical literature first appears in the long 18th century. We will explore the phenomenon of spectatorship in this period in relation to the institution of the masquerade, the science and philosophy of empiricism, and the rise of the penitentiary and systems of surveillance. This counts toward the 1700-1900 requirement for the major. Open only to first-year and sophomore students. Prerequisite: ENGL 103 or 104. Offered every year.
ENGL 369
Canadian Literature and Culture
ENGL 369
In this course we will examine works of modern authors from English- and French-speaking (in translation) Canada, as well as works by native Canadian writers, some who choose to write in either of the two "official" languages. We will consider issues of national identity both within an officially bilingual, multicultural Canada, and within a North American context -- Canadians defining themselves in relation to a powerful neighbor to the south. We will thus begin by focusing on Canadian writers, filmmakers and musicians as they characterize that border or "medicine line" along which so many Canadians choose to live, against which so much of Canadian identity is defined, and over which they constantly trespass. In the process, we also will examine the many ways in which Canadians characterize the United States and Americans. We will concentrate on writers (Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Alice Munro, Gabrielle Roy, Leonard Cohen) who have very self-consciously, and from very different perspectives, contributed to the task of defining what constitutes Canadian culture, the Canadian multicultural "mosaic." Some of Canada's most renowned poets also are musicians. We also will hear from them. And, as some of Canada's strongest representations of cultural difference have appeared in the form of films sponsored by the National Film Board of Canada and Telefilm Canada, we will view and study some of these in relation to the literary works we will be reading. This counts toward the post-1900 requirement for the major. Prerequisite: junior standing or ENGL 210-291 or permission of instructor.
ENGL 391
ST: The Gothic Novel
ENGL 391
ENGL 410
Senior Seminar in Literature
ENGL 410
This seminar will require students to undertake a research paper of their own design, within the context of a course that ranges across genres, literary periods and national borders. Students will study literary works within a variety of critical, historical, cultural and theoretical contexts. All sections of the course will seek to extend the range of interpretive strategies students can use to undertake a major literary research project. Each student will complete a research paper of 15 to 17 pages. Senior English majors pursuing an emphasis in literature are required to take instead ENGL 405. Students pursuing honors will take ENGL 497 rather than ENGL 410. Prerequisite: senior standing and English major or permission of instructor. Offered every year.