ENG 350
English Novel
MWF 1-1:50
Ricker 202Daniel P. Gunn
Ext. 7422
dpgunn@maine.eduRequired Texts:
Richardson, Pamela (Houghton-Mifflin)
Sterne, Tristram Shandy (Penguin)
Austen, Emma (Penguin)
Brontë, Jane Eyre (Norton Critical Ed.)
Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (Houghton-Mifflin)
Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Penguin)(Note: Class texts are available at Devaney, Doak, and Garrett, Booksellers, on Broadway in Farmington. Please don’t ask for them at the UMF Bookstore. It is crucial that you purchase the Norton Critical Jane Eyre, since we’re going to read essays reprinted in the back of that edition. You are strongly encouraged to purchase the indicated editions of the other texts, as well; if you try to get by with another edition, you’ll have different pagination, and you’ll be lost and frustrated when we look at passages in class.)
Bill of Fare. This is an upper-level course in the history and poetics of the English novel, with some attention to seminal critical responses to the genre and its classic texts. The central course content is pretty clear: six novels arranged in chronological order. Our principal goal will be to make as much sense as we can out of each of the novels, by itself, as a literary artifact; as always, we will want to see each book as clearly as we can, before doing anything else. As the semester progresses, however, I hope we can also identify some of the formal characteristics of the English novel and sketch an outline of its history. We will, in addition, be reading a series of critical essays, including work written from feminist, historicist, and formalist perspectives, in an effort to develop a preliminary idea of the issues addressed by historians of the novel and the range of possible interpretive strategies suggested by their work.
Format. Largely discussion, with some informal lecturing and brief student presentations. At the beginning of the semester, while you are reading Pamela, I will try to raise some questions about the novel as a genre and about the rise of the English novel in the eighteenth century. Once we start considering the texts, however, we will rely more and more on discussion and relaxed conversation, much of it student-led, as we mull over passages, think through questions, and float ideas suggested by our reading.
Secondary Reading, Summaries, Reserve Shelf. At two points during the semester, we will all read selections from influential criticism of the novel. These selections will cover the rise of the novel and Jane Eyre, respectively. The material on the rise of the novel will be copied and distributed to you; the material on Jane Eyre is, with one exception, available in the back of the Norton Critical text. (The essays included in each selection are listed on the syllabus.) I have also put material on reserve at Mantor Library for each of the five remaining novels; this material is listed on a separate page. You are responsible for reading one essay for each of three novels and submitting a one-page summary of the essay by the last class we spend on the novel. Due dates for the summaries are listed in the course outline, below.
Requirements and Grading. Three 1500-word papers; one rewrite; three one-page summaries of secondary material; a comprehensive final examination; faithful reading, attendance, and class participation. Semester grades will be computed as follows:
Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50%Late papers, rewrites, and summaries will be penalized.
Summaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10%
Final Examination . . . . . . . . 20%
Class Participation . . . . . . . 20%Attendance. Regular attendance is a requirement of the course. Except under extraordinary circumstances, frequent absences--more than two or three--will lower a student's final grade. A student absent for more than one-third of class meetings will not ordinarily receive credit for the course.
Course Outline. Here is an approximate schedule of classes, including due dates for papers and summaries. Details of the paper assignments will follow. Reading assignments are listed on a separate page.
Week beginning:
Accommodations. UMF strives to provide equal educational opportunities for students with special needs due to disability. Please notify me if you need a reasonable accommodation to meet course requirements.Back to ENG 350 page