Spring 2010

E 328 • English Novel In the 19th Century-W

Course Description

Our focus in this course will be on the variety of forms the English novel took (and invented) during the nineteenth century. We will sample a wide range of genres and subgenres, including the novel of manners, the gothic novel, the imperial novel, the science fiction novel, the historical novel, the classic "realist" novel, the comic novel, and the detective novel. We will consider the usefulness of these classifications: the expectations they create, the boundaries they set (and break), the kinds of experience they deem valuable, and those they push to the margins or exclude altogether. We will also pay a great deal of attention to style, and, to help us focus our attention, a number of the written assignments for the course will ask the student to write a scene in the "voice" of a given author, followed by a rigorous critical analysis that tries to come to grips with the peculiarities, drawbacks, and achievements of that style.

Grading Policy

Three "style" papers (including analysis) 3-4 pages 15% each Critical essay 9-10 pages 25% Class participation 20% Reading quizzes 10%

Texts

Austen, Pride and Prejudice Trollope, Barchester Towers Dickens, Our Mutual Friend Collins, The Moonstone Stevenson, Kidnapped Wells, The First Men in the Moon Conrad, Heart of Darkness Jerome, Three Men in a Boat

back