Comedy and the Comic Spirit in the Long 19th Century
ENGL 256
Spring 2026
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01
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This course follows the Comic Spirit (as novelist George Meredith called it) as it frolics through nineteenth-century literature and popular culture. We will examine how writers experimented with traditional elements of comedy such as courtship plots, playful language, and eccentric characters as well as with universal aspects of storytelling such as the narrator's voice and the ethical implications of poetic justice. While enjoying these hilarious works on their own terms, we will also take seriously their experiments with narrative form; their complex relationship to the categories of the novel, comedy, and realism; and the ways humor created links between literature and the visual and musical arts. This course fulfills the English Department's Literary History II, Theory, and British Literature requirements. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| 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
Jane Austen, EMMA; Lord Byron, DON JUAN; Charles Dickens, DAVID COPPERFIELD; E. M. Forster, A ROOM WITH A VIEW; Gilbert and Sullivan, THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE; Anthony Trollope, BARCHESTER TOWERS; Oscar Wilde, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST; P. G. Wodehouse, THE CODE OF THE WOOSTERS
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Examinations and Assignments:
Reading exercises, papers; this course carries a research option for thesis writers |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Contributes to the following English major requirements:
Literary History 2; British Literature, Theory. |
| Instructor(s): Weiner,Stephanie Times: ..T.R.. 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 25 | | SR major: 6 | JR major: 6 | | |
| Seats Available: 25 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 4 | FR: 4 |
| 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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