ENGL 212 A: Literature, 1700-1900

This course offers a survey of some major literary texts and themes of the British eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, from the classical period of social comedy in works like Gulliver’s Travels or Pride and Prejudice, through the inward lyrical voyaging of the Romantic movement (think Wordsworth, Keats) to the complex outlook of Victorians like Dickens and Oscar Wilde. There is a bright mountain of great reading in these two centuries but we get only ten weeks, so will focus on works that trace the conflict between social forms and individual liberty—between responsibility to society and responsibility to self. Short response papers, quizzes, two exams, group work. Questions? Write me at tlock@uw.edu.