Course Description
Many of us talk about “the novel” as if the term were both self-evident and immutably fixed. But eighteenth-century writers had no such misconceptions; in fact, early novelists often strenuously denied that their works were novels. After all, novels were trash—potentially dangerous, salacious trash, fit only for fools and whores and certainly not worthy of any literary consideration. It was not until late in the century that the term “novel” arrived at some critical acceptance. Modern critics, too, have struggled to define the novel, and especially the eighteenth-century novel, just as they have struggled to explain its apparent “rise.” This course will study the British novel in the eighteenth century, focusing particularly on how novels defined and presented themselves—both textually and materially—and how the idea of the “novel” gradually coalesced into something we now understand as a coherent genre. In other words, how (and why) did novels sell themselves? And how (and why) did the idea of the novel eventually get sold?

Learning Outcomes 
Students completing this course should be able to demonstrate sophisticated understanding of eighteenth-century novels, of theories of the novel genre in the period, and of critical issues and scholarship on these subjects. Students should also be able to demonstrate sophisticated understanding of book production in the long eighteenth century and of why a novel’s existence in history as a physical object matters for its interpretation as a literary artifact.
Students should also be able to articulate sophisticated ideas and interpretations of these texts and issues. Students should also be able to conduct professional-quality research on the eighteenth-century novel. These outcomes will be assessed by means of class discussions, scholarly presentations, shorter essays, and an article-length seminar paper.

Required Work
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Note that all assignments need to use both book-historical and literary-critical methodology.

Policies

Schedule of Readings and Assignments (subject to change)