Skip to main content
Department of English
Search
Log in
Navigation
About
Current Office Hours
Diversity Resources
English Library
Faculty Statement Archives
Internal Dept Resources
Medieval and Early Modern Studies
University Writing Program
Video Guides & Worksheets
Visit us on Facebook
Major/Minor in English
Advising
Creative Writing Application
Honors Program
Internships
Literary Magazines
Major Requirements Guide & FAQ
Minor Requirements
Study Abroad
Why Major in English?
MFA in Creative Writing
Admissions
Events, Prizes, and Resources
MFA Program Faculty
Newly Admitted Grad Students
Resources
Ph.D. in Literature
About
Admissions
Newly Admitted Grad Students
PhD Alumni Directory
Resources
Courses & Schedules
People
News & Events
Off the Syllabus Podcast
Recent News
Contests
Contest Winners
Previous Contest Winners
Newsletters
You are here
Home
»
Courses & Schedules
English 155A - Spring, 2015
18th Century British Novel
Class Information
Instructor:
Menely, Tobias
CRN:
52842
Time:
MWF 1:10-2:00
Location:
146 Olson
Description
Comparing the newly fashionable novel with traditional romances in 1785, Clara Reeve observed that “the novel gives a familiar relation of such things, as pass every day before our eyes, such as may happen to ourselves.” In this course, we’ll ask why eighteenth-century readers came to expect from fiction not virtuous heroes, wicked villains, and exotic locales but rather a portrait of a world much like their own, with relatable characters working to reconcile their individual desires with their duties and the norms of society. We’ll think about how early novels balanced the imperatives of self-creation and self-governance, personal faith and secular motivation, idealized femininity and female social mobility. We’ll consider the relation of the realist novel to capitalism, most specifically in a persistent anxiety, in these novels of individual self-determination, about how one’s own freedom is implicated in the slavery and servitude of others. In addition to five novels—Behn’s _Oroonoko_, Defoe’s _Robinson Crusoe_, Richardson’s _Pamela_, Sterne’s _A Sentimental Journey_, and Austen’s _Mansfield Park_—we’ll read some short pieces by major twentieth-century critics for whom the rise of the realist novel raised fascinating and difficult questions about the fate of literature in the modern world.
Grading
Two essays; online discussion forum; final exam
Texts
Oroonoko
, Behn
Robinson Crusoe
, Defoe
Pamela
, Richardson
A Sentimental Journey
, Sterne
Mansfield Park
, Austen