ENGL 4470

Fictional Worlds in the Nineteenth-Century British Novel

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2020-2021.

Why are prequels and sequels snapped up so eagerly by today's audiences? Extending the story-line backwards or forwards allows us to gain new insights into characters we thought we knew. The same can happen with the fictional worlds that surround the characters. Some Victorian novels gain this sort of richness by themselves, without extending their stories backward or forward. We will read two such novels, Dickens's Little Dorrit and Eliot's Middlemarch. Both are quite long, but our course syllabus will give you time to enjoy them. Wuthering Heights joins them, reminding us that memorable fictional worlds can come in smaller packages. These three novels allow us to experience life in a city and a town, as well as in isolated dwellings on the English moors. They are among the greatest novels written in the Victorian era, or in any other.

When Offered Fall.

Breadth Requirement (HB)
Distribution Category (LA-AS, ALC-AS)

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