WILLIAM HAZLITT'S LECTURES ON ENGLISH COMIC WRITERS TWO CENTURIES LATER IN THE UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM GLOBAL CONTEXT

William Hazlitt's “Lectures on English Comic Writers” were delivered in 1818 at Surrey Institution and immediately after, they were published. Two centuries later the list of authors discussed in the “Lectures” by Hazlitt still draws University lecturers' attention around the world. Poetry and plays by William Shakespeare and Ben Johnson, Cowley's and Vanbrugh's comedies, Alexander Pope's poems, Addison's and Steele's periodical essays, Fielding's, Richardson's, Smollett's and Goldsmith's novels, even Hogarth's paintings were reflected in the lectures. In 2018 the History of English Literature Programs in the University curricula of the correlating periods are still embodied with the same authors and their works whether their heritage is discussed in England, in Russia, or Globally. The accents are not completely the same though there are some similarities in approaches and emphases. Moreover, English literature becomes a vehicle for learning and teaching English for those whose majors are far from the Humanities: scientists, engineers.