Index # TBD
Distribution Requirement: A4
Time: Monday - 2:00 p.m.
Location: MU 207
Reading Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens occupies a central place in discussions of the history of the novel, of Realism, of the English nineteenth century, of Victorianism. He is one of that small number of authors who still commands interest from a broader reading public, whose words have become part of our daily speech, and some of whose works are widely familiar. Nevertheless, Dickens’s great novels from the 1840s to the 1860s still present challenges to the modern reader, as well as offering real pleasures and insights into the period in which he wrote. This course will work its way attentively through all three of the major works, Dombey and Son (1846), Bleak House (1852), and Little Dorritt (1855), while also spending time on the social critique of Hard Times (1854), the complex historical sensibility of A Tale of Two Cities (1859), and the painful psychological depths of Great Expectations (1860).
Dickens has been well-served by the critics, so the course will also read influential accounts of his achievements by authors ranging from Bakhtin and D.A. Miller to George Orwell and Lionel Trilling, as well as more recent analyses.
This course will not assume any familiarity with the Victorian period or novel theory, but it will be a good way to acquire a sense of what makes the era and its literature interesting and to start thinking about genre.
Requirement: two papers; seminar presentation; active participation.