- to introduce students to major writers and works of
nineteenth-century world literature, with an emphasis on 
industrialization and its consequences, as well as on the 
relevance of the texts under discussion to contemporary
society around the world; 
- to provide a survey of historical developments during the 
period; 
- to contextualize the works within broad literary and 
cultural movements, such as Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, 
Symbolism, Decadence, and Modernism; 
- to improve students' critical skills through the analysis of
individual works of literature; 
- and to develop students' communication skills through oral
presentations and writing assignments.

Students' performances will be assessed through presentations,
papers, tests, and a final examination.

A set of readings of 19th-century literary works provides the
structure of the course. Special emphasis will be placed on 
the relevance of these works to the contemporary world. The 
topics covered are generated by the individual works under 
consideration. Among the issues commonly treated are: major
literary movements of the 19th century; urbanization, 
industrialization, and the formation of 19th- century 
class structure; Europe, colonialism, and imperialism; mass
culture and the development of a publishing industry; 
intellectuals and the formation of the modern university; 
culture, taste, and education as elements in the formation of
culture. The specific works treated vary with the individual 
instructor. The following is a sample syllabus of readings 
for a single semester:

Zola.  Germinal
Buchner.  Wozzeck
Futabatei Shimei. The Drifting Cloud
Stendhal.  The Charterhouse of Parma
Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Machado de Assis. The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas
Balzac.  Le Pere Goriot
Eliot.  Silas Marner
Goncharov.  Oblomov
Tolstoy.  Anna Karenina
Dostoevsky.  The Idiot

Students are required to abide by the University of Georgia academic honesty policy.