Department of English

This course traces the development of the realist novel in English: how it emerged as a genre and why, by the middle of the nineteenth century, it was different things to different people: the best way to tell a story for some and an effective instrument of social change for others. We chart the English novel's historical development through close readings of texts. Readings include Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe; Jane Austen, Emma; Charles Dickens, Hard Times, Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights; George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss; Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim; Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse; V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr. Biswas. Requirements include short assignments, one mid-term exam and two 5-7 page essays.