Topics in 19th Century Novel: The Englishness of the English Novel
Malcolm Woodfield profile
MWF 12
What part del play in the construction of a Victorian national identity? What is Victorian "nationalism" and how does this category affect an understanding of the novel and its cultural role? Where do we see the novel appealing to and deriving from a specifically "English" national imagination, and how foreign is this imagination to a young American post-modern audience? In answering these and other questions, of particular importance will be issues such as the English class system, the English legal system, the English education system, the English Parliamentary system, the idea of national or racial "character", the representation of Empire, and the creation of an English "history". Writers range from Scott to Hardy and include some non-fiction and poetry.
updated 2006-02-20
