What is the novel and how did it begin? Why did it develop at a specific moment in history and what counted as fiction before that time? What makes one novel literature and another trash? In this course we explore the early decades of the novel to better understand prose fiction and how it came to be a dominant genre in English literature. Readings can include works by Daniel Defoe, Eliza Haywood, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, Frances Burney, Mary Shelley, Jane Austen (including selected cinematic adaptations), and more. Topics can include the novel in history and the history of the novel; the evolving cultural practices of novel-reading; eighteenth- century fiction and contemporary popular culture. Open to students from any major. Provides ENG Major Elective credit and ENG minor credit.

What is the novel and how did it begin? Why did it develop at a specific moment in history and what counted as fiction before that time? What makes one novel literature and another trash? In this course we explore the early decades of the novel to better understand prose fiction and how it came to be a dominant genre in English literature. Readings can include works by Daniel Defoe, Eliza Haywood, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, Frances Burney, Mary Shelley, Jane Austen (including selected cinematic adaptations), and more. Topics can include the novel in history and the history of the novel; the evolving cultural practices of novel-reading; eighteenth- century fiction and contemporary popular culture. Open to students from any major. Provides ENG Major Elective credit and ENG minor credit.