Underlying the title of this course is a question about how, and if, fiction can change society. How does literature exercise criticism of the society which gives rise to its being written in the first place? This debate has influenced theories of art throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For writers, particularly those influenced by Marx's account of society, it is often difficult to imagine that something cultural can affect the way that society and its economy are reproduced. On the other hand, it can be equally difficult for those who defend the ideal of "art for art's sake" to imagine literature which has political aims being good literature. In this course we will read novels by authors who have tackled the theory and the practice of what it means to see, and to write, literature that explicitly calls for social change. We will read Mary Wollstonecraft's Maria, or The Wrongs of Woman, George Gissing's New Grub Street, Charles Dickens's Hard Times, and Jack London's Martin Eden as well as a range of theorists, philosophers, and sociologists who have approached the question of how literature is-or isn't- linked to explicitly political or revolutionary movements. Format: discussion/seminar. Requirements: active participation in class discussion, and 20 pages of writing in the form of short essays. No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 19 per section (expected: 19 per section). Preference given to first-year students. Two sections.

Hour: LUPTON