This course examines the history of the novel as a literary genre from its beginnings to the present day. Representative examples of the novel in English from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries introduce Cadets to a constantly evolving genre. Cadets study the ways in which the novel rises out of the burgeoning reading culture of the eighteenth century, how its form and content adjust to and reflect cultural and historical contexts, and how the novel continues to be one of the most important and influential genres today. Topics may include the rise of the novel in eighteenth-century England, the gothic tradition, cultural expansion, travel and exploration, the novel of manners, and the historical novel.
