Fulfills Distribution III: Arts & Letters

This course will chart the development of the British novel, from the emergence of the form in the 18th century through the height of its popularity in the 19th century to Modernist and contemporary reworkings of the form. We will explore the changing conception of the novel and examine the ways in which the form responded to, as well as shaped, contemporary British culture and politics, including notions of identity , gender, community, nation, and Empire. Writers we will be reading include Behn, Defoe, Walpole, Eliot, Charlotte Bronte, Conrad, Woolf, Joyce, and Rhys. Students will be required to write two papers, short critical response papers, and a final exam; class and listserver participation will also be encouraged.