The Novel to Jane Austen
English 565, Autumn 2008
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September —
October —
November —
December
Office: (973) 353-5279 x 516; 516 Hill Hall.
Hours: Wednesday and Friday, 10:30–11:30, and by
appointment (appointments are best).
Home: (609) 882-4642 (before 10:00 p.m.!).
E-mail: jlynch@andromeda.rutgers.edu (the best way to
reach me).
Listserv: NovelToAusten @
andromeda.rutgers.edu (for the whole class).
Course Requirements
- Written Assignments: There will be two argumentative
and analytical papers, the first of around ten pages (2,500
words), the second either a new paper of around
ten pages, or an expansion of your first paper to
fifteen to twenty pages (3,500 to 5,000 words).
- Reports and Annotated Bibliographies: Each student
will be particularly responsible for the readings on one day of
the semester, producing and distributing (on paper or by E-mail)
a short annotated bibliography of relevant criticism and then
beginning class with an oral report of around ten minutes. The
report should begin with a very brief discussion of the
day's annotated bibliography, giving a quick overview of the
major scholarship on the topic. Thereafter, the topic is anything
relevant to the day's readings. A good report will raise as many
fruitful questions as possible and get discussion
rolling. Anything that will help — handouts, short readings
for the rest of the class — is welcome and encouraged.
- Readings: This is a novel course, so the reading load
is unavoidably heavy. Do what you can to keep up, and talk to me
if you get overwhelmed. All of these books are available from New
Jersey Books:
- Ian Watt, The Rise of the Novel, California,
ISBN: 0520230698.
- Aphra Behn, Oroonoko, Bedford, ISBN: 0312108133.
- Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, Oxford, ISBN:
0192834037.
- Samuel Richardson, Pamela, Oxford, ISBN:
0192829602.
- Henry Fielding, Joseph Andrews and Shamela,
Oxford, ISBN: 019283343X.
- Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy, Oxford, ISBN:
0192834703.
- Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Oxford, ISBN:
0192833944.
- Frances Burney, Evelina, Oxford, ISBN:
0192840312.
Classroom discussion is easier if you use these editions, but
if you own the novels in other editions, or if you can get cheap
secondhand copies of other editions, you needn't buy new ones.
Additional critical materials are available through the library's
on-line reserve.
Schedule of Class Meetings
- 3 Sept.
- Introduction: class business, &c.
- 10 Sept.
- Aphra Behn, Oroonoko; Ian Watt, The Rise
of the Novel, chapters 1 ("Realism and the Novel Form")
and 2 ("The Reading Public and the Rise of the Novel").
- 17 Sept.
- Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders; Ian Watt, The
Rise of the Novel, chapter 4 ("Defoe as Novelist:
Moll Flanders").
- 24 Sept.
- Defoe, Moll Flanders; Michael McKeon,
Introduction to The Origins of the English Novel,
1600–1740.
- 1 Oct.
- Samuel Richardson, Pamela, vol. 1 (pp.
1–219); Ian Watt, The Rise of the Novel,
chapter 6 ("Private Experience and the Novel").
- 8 Oct.
- Richardson, Pamela, vol. 2 (pp. 221–503);
Nancy Armstrong, selection from "The Rise of the Novel," chapter
3 of Desire and Domestic Fiction.
- 15 Oct.
- No Class: I'll be away at a conference.
- 22 Oct.
- Fielding, Joseph Andrews; Ian Watt, The
Rise of the Novel, chapter 8 ("Fielding and the Epic
Theory of the Novel"); J. Paul Hunter, "The Novel and
Social/Cultural History," from The Cambridge Companion to
the Eighteenth-Century Novel. First Paper
Due.
- 29 Oct.
- Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vols.
1–3; Viktor Shklovsky, "A Parodying Novel: Sterne's
Tristram Shandy."
- 5 Nov.
- Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vols. 4–6; D. W.
Jefferson, "Tristram Shandy and the Tradition of
Learned Wit."
- 12 Nov.
- Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vols. 7–9;
Jonathan Lamb, "Sterne and Irregular Oratory," from The
Cambridge Companion to the Eighteenth-Century Novel.
- 19 Nov.
- Matthew Lewis, The
Monk; Homer Obed Brown, Preface to Institutions
of the English Novel.
- 26 Nov.
- No Class: Thanksgiving break.
- 3 Dec.
- Frances Burney, Evelina, vol. 1; Joanne
Cutting-Gray, "Writing Innocence: Fanny Burney's
Evelina."
- 10 Dec.
- Frances Burney, Evelina, vols. 2–3; Susan
Staves, "Evelina; or, Female Difficulties."
Final Paper Due.