ENG 337-01 - The British Novel I

4 credits (Fall)

Romance and revolution: the novel and the nation. This course will trace many rises: those of the novel, of the modern nation, of abolitionism and modern feminism, of mass print culture, of fictions about international encounter. Students will read a series of texts ranging from the eighteenth-century comic novel to contemporary British television, with an emphasis on novels and political writing from the age of the American, French, and Haitian revolutions. Readings will include texts such as Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative, William Godwin’s Caleb Williams (perhaps the first detective novel in English), Mary Wollstonecraft’s Maria; Or, The Wrongs of Woman, Jane Austen’s Persuasion, and James Corden and Ruth Jones’s BBC comedy Gavin and Stacey.

Prerequisite: ENG 223, ENG 224, ENG 225, ENG 226, or ENG 273.
Instructor: Simpson