ENGL 322T(S) Novel Arguments (W)

What does it mean to say that a novel has an argument-that, in other words, it advocates certain beliefs and offers reasons in support of them? We will examine this central question through close reading of European and American nineteenth-century novels by authors including Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Gustave Flaubert, and Mark Twain. The history of the novel in the nineteenth century is one of contending ambitions: social commentary, popular entertainment, and "high" art. Studying this period of literary history is, therefore, ideally suited for an inquiry into theoretical concerns about the meanings of fiction, among them: In what sense can fiction persuade? Are particular beliefs or principles "argued" by the form of the novel, even against an author's conscious wishes? To explore these questions, we will also read critical works exemplifying differing answers to the question of how the novel possesses arguments about issues such as class, industry, slavery, and consumer culture.
Format: tutorial. Requirements: Students will meet with the instructor in pairs for one hour each week. They will alternate between writing 5- to 7-page papers and commentaries on their partner's papers. Students will be evaluated on their written work, their oral presentations of that work, their analyses of their colleague's work, and on a final, comprehensive essay that will address the themes engaged in the tutorial.
Prerequisite: a 100-level English course, except 150. Enrollment limit: 10 (expected: 10). Preference given to English majors.
(1700-1900)

Tutorial meetings to be arranged. T. DAVIS