English Literature EE: Narrowing down my topic?

[traveller]

Hello everyone!

 

So I'm doing my English Lit EE on works in satire. The main works i'll be using are Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, and Erewhon by Samuel Butler.

 

I would like to analyze how effective these two works are at conveying their message to the readers, if the readers have no background knowledge on the context/history of the book.

 

The question i've thought up is: To what extent are the societal satires Gulliver's Travels and Erewhon effective at conveying their message to people of the 21st century?

 

I intend on discussing how these two novels reflect Gregorian and Victorian society, and what implications do they have on people who would read them today.

 

What do you think of this question? Should I change my scope on these two works?

Edited April 12, 2015 by traveller

[Blackcurrant]

Hi Traveller,

 

I see you haven't got any replies yet so here goes...

 

Here's the hitch (or crux - haven't made up my mind on the best word  ):  who will serve as your control group, so that you can answer the question "how effective ..."?  You simply cannot assess the effect of these satires on readers in any reliable way. Or at least, it will be hard. And a lot of work. And if you try to come to some evaluation by using a group of friends or classmates, well, that just won't fly either because there is no way of generalising from a group of 20-40 people. So you better give that idea up, however interesting it may be. And it is interesting. But you shouldn't tie yourself down that way. You want something that you can research easily and conveniently. 

 

So if you want to avoid that headache, refocus your EE topic so that everything doesn't hinge on evaluating audience response. Also, you should also strive for a literary discussion/approach rather than aiming for the more sociological "reader-response" type analysis.

 

 

Maybe this helps.

 

V

Edited April 13, 2015 by Blackcurrant