The Rise of the Novel
ENGL 210
Spring 2026
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01
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The novel as we know it emerged in 18th-century England. The real questions are, how and why? Were novels first written by white men, expressing the attitudes and capitalizing on the reading practices of an emergent middle class? Or did they evolve from a somewhat less respectable tradition of romance writing by and for women? Did novelistic prose draw on scientific and economic discourses as it naively sought to present a realistic picture of the world? Or was the genre playfully self-aware, from its very origins, of the difficult relationship between reality and language? This course will explore some of the complexities of the rise of the novel, one of the most important and oft-told tales of literary history. As we read fictions full of criminals, love letters, scandals, and satirical self-referentiality, we will think about the differences between early novels and the not-quite novels that preceded them. We will focus on how novels work through plot, character, and realist prose, as we also explore the ideological work that the form does. We will ask, too, about the workings of scholarly narratives like "the rise of the novel": how do these critical narratives help us, as novel readers, understand our relationship to the past and to the novel as a form? |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (English) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Anon, WOMAN OF COLOUR Jane Austen, PERSUASION Henry Fielding, JOSEPH ANDREWS Samuel Richardson, PAMELA Laurence Sterne, TRISTRAM SHANDY Horace Walpole, CASTLE OF OTRANTO
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Examinations and Assignments:
Three short papers, a presentation, and a final project. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Contributes to the fulfillment of ENGL major requirements: BL, LH2, elective. |
| Instructor(s): Smith,Courtney Weiss Times: ..T.R.. 01:20PM-02:40PM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 7 | JR major: 7 | | |
| Seats Available: 15 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 0 | JR non-major: 0 | SO: 1 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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