English 155B - Fall, 2020

19th Century British Novel

Class Information

Instructor: Hulbert, Annette
CRN: 32142
Time: MWF 10:00-10:50
GE Areas: World Cultures Writing Experience

Description

This course tracks the development of the nineteenth-century British novel as a historical form. We will read novels by Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, and Charles Dickens and discuss the following topics, among others: sensation and realism, industrialization and individualism, science and evolution, marriage and domesticity, empire and colonization, and modes of reading, writing, and publication. We will also investigate a series of related questions, including: How did historical and political events shape the novel?s rise to cultural prominence? What moral and literary values did nineteenth-century readers assign to sensation versus realist novels? How did the expansion of the middle class change the production and consumption of novels?

Grading

Grading:

Short writing assignments and quizzes (25%)

One 4-5 page paper (25%)

One 6-7 page paper (35%)

Final (15%)

Texts

Sense and Sensibility, Austen
Frankenstein, Shelley
Wuthering Heights, Bronte
Great Expectations, Dickens
Lady Audley's Secret, Braddon