ENGL 329 A: Rise of the English Novel

English 329--The Rise of the English Novel

Professor Staten

Padelford 409B

Office hours:  10-11 M-W and by appointment

The literary super-genre we call the novel is a product of modernity.  The rise of the novel is associated with the rise of the bourgeoisie, which began to take on its distinctive modern form in the 18^th century.  Before this time, both society and literature were dominated by the aristocracy, and there was no serious literary form that represented the lives of the lower classes.  By the 18^th century, however, the bourgeoisie, that is, the capitalist class, which had begun to develop in the Middle Ages, had become numerous and powerful enough that it began to generate its own self-representation in literature, in the form of the novel.  The novel represented the daily life, activities, and concerns of this new “middle” class between the aristocracy and the peasantry—concerns which predominantly involved money and marriage. 

There is no single work that can be called “the first novel,” or even “the first English novel,” because the “novel” is an ill-defined literary form; but we will start with Robinson Crusoe (1719), by Daniel Defoe, which is as good a place as any.  We will also read Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740),  by Samuel Richardson,  The Castle of Otranto (1764), by Thomas Walpole; Evelina (1778), by Frances Burney; and Emma (1815), by Jane Austen.  Austen represents the "maturity" of the novel form, so it's a good place to end this survey.  The Castle of Otranto is an exception to what I said above about the concerns of the novel.  It’s the first “Gothic novel,” and concerns ghosts, a castle, and a maiden in distress who must be saved by a valiant knight.  It’s the precursor of such modern narratives as that of the original Star Wars, and of many horror movies and ghost stories.

You will be asked to write a 4-5 page mid-term paper and a 4-5 page final.  In addition, there will be an undetermined number of unannounced reading quizzes.  The two papers will each count one third of your grade, the reading quizzes one sixth, and participation/attendance the final one sixth. Your first paper will be due May 5, with a grace period of one week; your final will be due on Wednesday of exam week, June 5, with a grace period of three days (till Saturday, June 8).

It's very important that you order the specific editions below, because otherwise you will have different page numbers than I and your classmates do, and you won't be able to follow the text as we discuss it in class.  This class will involve a great deal of close attention to specific passages in class, so having the right edition is very important.  I've ordered the cheapest editions I could find.

Texts:

Pamela, by Samuel Richardson.  Oxford World's Classics 2001 (2008 reissue)

978-0-19-953649-8

Evelina, by Fanny Burney.  Dover Thrift Eds. 2015

978-0-486-79626-0

Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe.  Penguin, 2003

978-0141439822

The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole.  Oxford World's Classics, 2014

978-0-19-870444-7

Emma, by Jane Austen.  Oxford, 2022

978-0-19-883775-6

Reading schedule:

I’m scheduling two weeks for each novel, which means four class sessions, which in turn means you should read at least ¼ of each novel for each class session.  Since some of you will doubtless have different editions that those above, this will mean a different number of pages for you.  I leave it to you to calculate the number of pages that add up to ¼ of your own text.

Robinson Crusoe: March 28, 30, April 4, 6

Pamela: April 11, 13, 18, 20

Castle of Otranto: April 25, 27; May 2, 4

Evelina: May 9, 11, 16, 18

Emma:  May 23, 25, 30, June 1

Exam week: June 3-9.