We will consider the history and theory of the novel from Aphra Behn's Oroonoko (1688) to J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and Wendy (1904). How does novelistic form change? How do such changes affect the representation of "reality"? Do novels change the way we think about the world or our own life stories? Do novels seem to make us into certain kinds of "subjects" or people as we read them? What do narrative forms suggest about the anxieties of the societies in which they are written? We will attempt to answer these questions through rigorous reading, energetic class discussion, and the writing of extraordinary prose in the form of the quiz, the short paper, the longer paper and the final exam.
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last updated: March 9, 2015 - 12:04pm