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The Eighteenth-Century English Novel


Course Description

The English novel from Defoe to 1800, including novels by Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne, the Gothic novel, and the novel of purpose.


Athena Title

18th Century English Novel


Equivalent Courses

Not open to students with credit in ENGL 6430


Prerequisite

Two 2000-level ENGL courses or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 3000-level ENGL course) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course)


Semester Course Offered

Offered every year.


Grading System

A - F (Traditional)


Course Objectives

At the end of the course, students, having read a substantial body of literature, will be able to discuss the assigned works (orally and in writing) with a considerable degree of critical sophistication, to read and enjoy other works from the period, and to converse with fellow students about texts and issues related to the subject matter of the course. 1. The course will introduce students to British fiction of the long eighteenth century (c. 1660 - c.1800). 2. The course will situate this fiction in the historical, social, political and literary milieu of this period. 3. The course will require students to demonstrate their analytical skills in a variety of writing exercises which may include examinations (in-class or out-of-class), short critical essays, longer research papers or projects, reviews of criticism, "conference papers" that are presented both orally and in writing. The total writing for the semester should be the equivalent of between 20-25 typed pages.


Topical Outline

The selection of novels read and discussed will vary from instructor to instructor and semester to semester. However, the novels will be read and analyzed using critical skills of various kinds (e.g., historical, close reading, comparative, structural, psychoanalytical, feminist, etc.) In addition to being examined on the material, students will write critical essays on one or more of the novels. Research projects and oral presentations may also be assigned. A sample syllabus might include Aphra Behn's OROONOKO, Daniel Defoe's MOLL FLANDERS, Samuel Richardson's PAMELA or CLARISSA, Henry Fielding's TOM JONES or JOSEPH ANDREWS, Sarah Fielding's DAVID SIMPLE, Laurence Sterne's TRISTRAM SHANDY, Tobias Smollett's HUMPHREY CLINKER, Frances Burney's EVELINA and Charlotte Smith's THE YOUNG PHILOSOPHER, William Godwin's CALEB WILLIAMS, Maria Edgeworth's ABSENTEE. Some instructors may choose to pursue a theme throughout the semester--education, travel/colonialism, class, etc.; others may wish to emphasize formal elements of the novel and the participation of other genres in the defining of novelistic practices during this period. Others may wish to situate the course in conversation with some of the key critical/scholarly treatments of the field--i.e. the work of Ian Watt, J. Paul Hunter, John Richetti, Michael McKeon, Margaret Anne Doody, and Lennard Davis. The course is amenable to a variety of structures with the primary aim being to introduce the students to the texts and the contexts (both historical and critical) of the field.


Syllabus