English 342 - Rise of English Novel

[before 1800]  Exploring the relations between literary form and socioeconomic change, this course examines the rise of the novel in England in the context of the rise of capitalism.  Topics of discussion will include the novels’ portrayals of subjectivity, the representation of female experience, the role of servants in the imaginary worlds of novels by ruling-class authors, and the early novel’s affinity for and relation to criminality.  Novels by Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Sterne, Burney and Edgeworth.

Fall semester.  Professor Frank.