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No final exam!

Middlemarch take-home exam paper due no later than Friday, March 14 (by noon in my department mailbox)--the assignment will be available on Wednesday, March 5.
 

Description

The novel has been a vibrant form in Britain since the end of the seventeenth century, though it was not until well into the nineteenth century that this immensely popular form was considered “serious” by literary critics. In this course we will use this arbitrary divide between popular and serious to examine how novelists both responded to the public’s taste for the familiar and tested the public’s acceptance of novelty. In the process we’ll read some ripping good yarns.

Eighteenth and nineteenth-century novels are exciting, thought-provoking, playful and moving; they are also exceptionally and in the case of Middlemarch unbelievably LONG.

Be forewarned: you should enroll only if you are prepared to keep up with the reading (an average of 250-350 pages per week). 

Because this is a lecture-discussion class rather than a formal lecture course, active and informed contribution to class discussion is expected from all students.

Reading List

The following texts are required for this class:

Austen, Jane. Emma. New York: Oxford. (0192802372)

Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New York: Penguin (rev. ed. 2003) (0-14-143955-6)

Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. New York: Penguin (2003) (0-14-143982-3)

Dickens, Charles. Hard Times. New York: Oxford (reissued 1998) (0-19-283367-7)

Eliot, George. Middlemarch. New York: Penguin. (0-14-143954-8)

Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Oxford. (new ed 2005) (019284069X)