ENGL 247

Fall 2013 All Classes

All Classes

The British Novel

Credit: 3 hours.

A study of some of the more noteworthy and influential writers of the last two hundred and fifty years. The course traces the development of the novel as a genre that both celebrated and critiqued Britain and British nationalism. Examines how the novel has been important culturally over time.

Prerequisite: Completion of the Composition I requirement.

This course satisfies the General Education Criteria in Fall 2022 for:

Humanities – Lit & Arts

Cultural Studies - Western

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ENGL 247 class schedule data for fall 2013
	CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
	32304	Lecture-Discussion	D	11:00AM -11:50AM	MWF	104 English Building	McLeer, H	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/26/13-12/11/13 Degree Notes: Literature and the Arts, and Western Compartv Cult course. Section Info: The novel made its debut in Britain over a hundred years after it first appeared on the continent. But the little nation of Great Britain on the outskirts of Europe produced some of the most noteworthy and influential writers of the last two hundred and fifty years. In this course, we?ll trace the development of the novel as a genre that both celebrated and critiqued British nationalism. We?ll examine how the novel served as a vehicle to record and redefine the boundaries of a social order predicated on preserving noble bloodlines into a culture that produced the Industrial Revolution, The Beatles and the Welfare State. We?ll start out with a look at the estate house as the defining icon of British patriarchy and class hierarchy in the Regency period. We?ll discuss how the rise of the middle class was fomented through the spirit of British nationalism that evolved during the Napoleonic Wars and how British naval dominance catapulted this island-nation into creating a vast colonialist empire that expanded across the entire globe. Then we?ll explore the rise of industrialization in the midlands, focusing on how the paradigm of factory labor and ownership reconfigured British social and economic policies for decades to come. Next we?ll examine how fiction functioned as a crucible for mandating radical reform movements in the UK such as feminism, socialism and environmentalism when we approach the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And finally, as we move into the modern and postmodern periods, we?ll see how the two global wars served as the catalysts to dismantle the conservative values inherent in British society and whether the future of the UK resides in a broader social and racial demographic or in a distopic future ruled by the WASP elite. Requirements for the class include three short papers and a final exam. Regular class attendance and participation are expected. Texts and films may include: Persuasion, Jane Eyre, Howards End, Brideshead Revisited, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Small Island, The Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Philosopher?s Stone, The Queen, Sherlock and Skyfall.