ENG 229 – Professor Frank (British Lit I Req.)
This course explores a variety of topics in British literature before 1800, often focusing on a particular theme or genre. A description of the specific topic offered will be posted prior to the registration period. All sections satisfy a requirement for the English major and concentration; an elective for the Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities major; and an Exploration requirement for the Core Curriculum. Topics may include (among others): What Makes “the Novel” Novel? Aphra Behn was famous for her plays, but at the end of her life, she wrote Oronooko, or The Royal Slave (1688). What was this new form that combined travel narrative, memoir, biography, and fiction? Viewed as an upstart genre not to be ranked with serious essays, poetry, and drama, the novel brought familiar forms of writing into new and sometimes confusing relationships. Beginning with Behn, this course samples a range of prose fiction writing from the late 17th to the late 18th century. Through informal reading response, group discussion, and short essays, students will explore the criminal underworld, venture to the New World, get lost in London’s mazes and the Continent’s ruined castles. They will also examine the ways authors positioned themselves in relation to their texts and to their audiences, the new demands they placed on readers, as well as the genre’s association with women writers and an expanding British empire. Role in the Curriculum
