ENGL 335(F) Charles Dickens

Dickens is a unique phenomenon in British literature in that no writers of comparable stature have been so intimately and directly connected with the life of their times. In addition to writing thirteen novels, Dickens was a parliamentary reporter, a journalist, a newspaper and magazine editor; he was a social reformer who played a practical role in efforts to better the lives of the poor and dispossessed; and through his extraordinarily successful public readings of his own work, he became what we would today call a media personality. He is also unique in that all of his novels were not merely published in monthly and weekly serial parts, but were also written serially-meaning that Dickens often wrote without knowing the direction his novels would take or how they would end. This method of writing and publication gave him a peculiarly intimate relationship with his large reading public. In addition to examining the development and diversity of Dickens' writing-with special attention to his uses of language and his vision of society, we will also examine various aspects of his life, work, and period. We will also consider videotaped adaptations of the novels to consider such questions as his relationship to the twentieth century and to forms of communication other than the novel. Dickens also provides an opportunity to study concepts of authorship as they have been developed in recent film theory, and also of theories of literary production. Texts include Oliver Twist, Bleak House, Hard Times, Little Dorrit, A Tale of Two Cities, and selections from Dickens's journalistic writings. Requirements: two 6- to 8-page papers and a final exam. Pre-requisite: English 101. Enrollment limited to 25. (1800-1900)

Hour: G. SMITH