ENG 2087 The English Novel
This course examines the literary tradition of the English novel, which took shape in the 18th century, entered a golden age in the 19th century, and has continued to evolve in the modern and contemporary periods. Students will read major novels that demonstrate the evolution of the genre in England and will consider those works in historical and social context as well as in light of influential theories of the novel. Novelists will include Fielding, Richardson, Austen, Brontk, Eliot, Forster, Woolf, and McEwan; theorists will include Forster, Watt, McKeon, and Smiley. This course is designed to develop students? intermediate-level skills in critically analyzing and writing about literature both comparatively and in context, while also reinforcing students? fundamental skills in analytical reading and writing. Key assignments will include a comparative essay about two novels and a contextual essay that applies relevant theory and knowledge of history and tradition to the original analysis of a major English novel.