English 155A - Spring, 2012

18th Century British Novel

Class Information

Instructor: Loar, Christopher
CRN: 93515
Time: TR 10:30-11:50
Location: 206 Olson

Description

The eighteenth century in Britain was a period of cultural, political, economic, and social transformation. It was also the period which, arguably, saw one of the most important developments in literary history: the emergence of the modern novel. In this course we will read a number of novels from this early period and attempt to understand something of the form and content of these texts. What distinguished novels from the kinds of fiction that preceded it? How did these texts respond to the massive transformations in British society during this period? To narrow our focus, we will be particularly interested in how novels reimagine emotions and sexual desire; the implication of the novel in the creation of private, domestic spaces; the development of a larger and more diverse market for books; the development of what we now call "realism"; and the importance of new gender ideals and forms of selfhood for men and women.

Grading

(Tentative)

Short writing assignments (5% each; total 20%)
First essay (15%)
Second essay (25%)
Final exam (20%)
In-class writing assignments, group work, and participation (20%)

Texts

Popular Fiction by Women 1660-1730: An Anthology, Backscheider and Richetti (eds.)
Moll Flanders, Defoe
Pamela, Richardson
Joseph Andrews, Fielding
Romance of the Forest, Radcliffe