Eight British Novels (Spring 2008 Proseminar)

An examination of eight British novels spanning the periods commonly referred to as Victorian, Edwardian, and modern, this iteration of English 6340 will focus more on social, sexual, and aesthetic revolutions than on specifically political upheavals. We will read one early novel by each of the following authors: Charles Dickens (Oliver Twist [1837]), George Eliot (Adam Bede [1859]), Thomas Hardy (Far from the Madding Crowd [1874], and D. H. Lawrence (Sons and Lovers [1913]). Then we will study four later, more mature works by the same four novelists: Bleak House [1852-3], Middlemarch [1871-72], Tess of the d’Urbervilles [1891], and Lady Chatterley’s Lover [1928]. Special emphasis will be placed on changing definitions of truth, fiction, and justice (especially but not exclusively in works by Dickens, Eliot, and Hardy)—as well as on evolving representations of interpersonal relationships involving friendship, romantic love, and sex (especially but not exclusively in works by Eliot, Hardy, and Lawrence).