English 155B - Spring, 2013

19th Century British Novel

Class Information

Instructor: Roy, Parama
CRN: 62582
Time: TR 3:10-4:30
Location: 106 Olson

Description

This course is devoted to what is arguably the pre-eminent literary product of nineteenth-century Britain: the novel. It will combine detailed critical reading of four novels (Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations, and Lady Audley’s Secret) with a consideration of the intellectual, social, economic, and political contexts out of which these texts emerged. We will consider the following topics, among others: science, progress, and perfectibility; class, money, debt, inheritance, work, and gentlemanliness; monsters, madwomen, foundlings, orphans, and aliens; law, criminality, and punishment; and domesticity, marriage, and gendered codes of conduct. We will also devote some attention to the practices of novel reading, writing, and publication in this period.







Grading

Midterm; term paper; quizzes; posts to an online forum; final.

Texts

Lady Audley’s Secret, ed. Natalie M. Houston (Broadview Press), Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Great Expectations, ed. Edgar Rosenberg (Norton Critical Edition), Charles Dickens
Frankenstein, ed. J. Paul Hunter (Norton Critical Edition–2nd edition), Mary Shelley
Wuthering Heights, ed. Richard J. Dunn (Norton critical edition--4th edition), Emily Bronte