English L348 / B645: Nineteenth-Century British Fiction
(Spring 2008)
The purpose of this course is to give you a deeper understanding of the history of English fiction from about 1800 to 1900. The nineteenth century was a time of unprecedented social, political, and cultural change in Britain, especially influenced by the effects of industrialism and urbanization, the rise of democracy through the reform acts, and the consolidation of the British Empire. These larger events and the debates over religion, evolution, and women's rights permeate the literature of the period and will provide the contexts for our readings. In literary terms, the nineteenth century saw an explosion in mass literacy and a blizzard of print, especially the novel. Our emphasis will be on the analytical reading of texts, especially formal analysis ("close reading") and a variety of critical approaches, within the larger historical, social, and cultural discourses of the time. We will read a variety of novels from the period, including works by Austen, Dickens, Brontė, Eliot, Collins, Schreiner, Doyle, and Hardy.
Syllabus and Schedule
The Moonstone Serialization
- Installment 1A
- Installment 1B
- Installment 2
- Installment 3
- Installment 4
- Installment 5
- Installment 6
- Installment 7
- Installment 8
- Installment 9
- Installment 10
- Installment 11
- Installment 12
- Installment 13
- Installment 14
- Installment 15
- Installment 16
- Installment 17
- Installment 18
- Installment 19
- Installment 20
- Installment 21A
- Installment 21B
- Installment 22
- Installment 23
- Installment 24
- Installment 25
- Installment 26
Discussion Questions
- Austen's Emma
- Dickens's Oliver Twist
- Bronte's Jane Eyre
- Eliot's Felix Holt, the Radical
- Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm
- Doyle's Sherlock Holmes Stories
- Collins's The Moonstone