19th Century Masterpieces:  Three Great Social Novels

Level: Undergraduate

Division: The New School for Public Engagement

School: School of Undergraduate Studies

Department: Humanities

Course Number: NLIT 3425

Course Format: Lecture

Location: Online

Permission Required: No

Topics:

• Literature
• Gender and Sexuality Studies

Description:
This class studies three English novels, inspired stories of memorable characters caught in the web of their social circumstances still speak to us today: the fate of a child's heart in the wake of  the Industrial Revolution; a romance  in which pride and prejudice meet the dark satanic mills of  Manchester, England;  an insightful interrogation of marriage  and  "the new woman" as England enters the modern age at the close of the 19th century. Bringing imaginative color and emotional resonance to such timeless subjects as education, work, religion, social class, money, gender roles, love, marriage, morals, and manners, these novels also address  a variety of social upheavals -- political, economic, cultural.  Readings:  Charles Dickens, Hard Times; Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South ; George Gissing, The Odd Women.