The period between the Renaissance and the Modern Era are referred to as the long 18th and 19th centuries, meaning that they span from around 1680-1830 and 1775-1910 - a time in which so many literary movements and cultural changes took place. In this course, the student will examine these formative cultural and literary developments such as the Enlightenment and Restoration Literature; the Rise of the Novel; Romanticism; and the Victorian Period. The student will identify and contextualize the principal characteristics of each of these movements/developments by reading representative texts. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: identify the major literary trends of the 18th and 19th century, from Restoration comedy and satires through Victorian poetry and prose; outline the major developments in philosophical thought during the Enlightenment and identify these strains of thought in works like Voltarie's Candide; identify the factors that led to the rise of the novel as a literary form; identify the specific traits that characterize early sentimental, Gothic, and picaresque novel; describe the political factors that led to the popularity of Romanticism; describe the shift in thought that led to the split between Romanticism and Enlightenment; identify the themes, conventions, and tropes of Romantic poetry; define and explain the significance of the term/concept of ĺÎĺĺĺŤthe Romantic imagination; define the political, social, and economic factors that led to the surge in popular Victorian fiction; explain the significance of poetic experimentation in the 19th century works of writers like Tennyson, Hopkins, and Browning. (English Literature 203)

An examination of eighteenth-century English writers in their historical context. Authors vary but all address issues of capitalism and class mobility; romantic love and the re-definition of femininity and masculinity; the beginnings of mass culture; colonialism and international travel.

Major narrative texts from diverse Western cultures, beginning with Homer and concluding with at least one film. Emphasis on literary and cultural issues: on the artistic significance of the chosen texts and on their identity as anthropological artifacts whose conventions and assumptions are rooted in particular times, places, and technologies. Syllabus varies, but always includes a sampling of popular culture (folk tales, ballads) as well as some landmark narratives such as the Iliad or the Odyssey, Don Quixote, Anna Karenina, Ulysses, and a classic film. This class will investigate the ways in which the formal aspects of Western storytelling in various media have shaped both fantasies and perceptions, making certain understandings of experience possible through the selection, arrangement, and processing of narrative material. Surveying the field chronologically across the major narrative genres and sub-genres from Homeric epic through the novel and across media to include live performance, film, and video games, we will be examining the ways in which new ideologies and psychological insights become available through the development of various narrative techniques and new technologies. Emphasis will be placed on the generic conventions of story-telling as well as on literary and cultural issues, the role of media and modes of transmission, the artistic significance of the chosen texts and their identity as anthropological artifacts whose conventions and assumptions are rooted in particular times, places, and technologies. Authors will include: Homer, Sophocles, Herodotus, Christian evangelists, Marie de France, Cervantes, La Clos, Poe, Lang, Cocteau, Disney-Pixar, and Maxis-Electronic Arts, with theoretical readings in Propp, Bakhtin, Girard, Freud, and Marx.

What makes a novel Gothic? In this course, the student will explore various definitions as he or she reads a number of novels (and screens several films). The student will supplement these studies with critical literature on the Gothic genre, critiquing and adapting their approaches and theories as the student sees fit. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: provide a general description of the Gothic novel, with specific examples of literary themes, conventions, and tropes from the novels we have read; participate in the critical discourse that surrounds the issue of whether it is better to classify Gothic novels in terms of literary themes or historical context; explain how the Gothic novel both extends and breaks from the traditions of earlier genres; explain the historical development of the novel out of a specific political, social, and economic context; explain the themes of Gothic novels as reflections of prominent social, political, and economic concerns contemporaneous with their development; discuss the significance of the Gothic spaces in novels such as The Castle of Otranto and The Mysteries of Udolpho and explain the psychological implications of the representation of these spaces; critically discuss the theme of otherness in the Gothic novel, with attention to both the historical significance of the other, and the supernatural representation of the monster figure; identify themes of sexuality, gender, and feminism in Gothic novels as part of the novels' creation of psychological terror; explain how themes of sexuality, gender, and feminism in the Gothic novel comment on and respond to Victorian morality and notions of family; define the key terms associated with the Gothic novel and cite examples of these terms from texts read in the course; distinguish between terror and horror in the context of Gothic literary studies and cite examples of each. (English Literature 403)

Studies important twentieth-century texts from Spain and Latin America that represent the principal fictional genres--poetry, theatre, short story, and the novel. Includes works by Bombal, Lorca, Neruda, Vallejo, Machado, and GarcĚ_a MĚÁrquez. Taught in Spanish. Subject offered Spring 2003 and Fall 2004.

In this course, the student will examine James Joyce's aesthetic and artistic sensibilities through close readings of his major works, placing special emphasis on Ulysses. First, the student will take a look at the life and times of James Joyce to understand his context. Then, the student will then progress through his works chronologically. By the end of this course, you will not only have read and thought critically about a number of his most celebrated works, but will have evaluated the reasons for Joyce's prestigious position within the English canon. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: place the works of James Joyce in the context of historical events and literary developments (in Ireland as well as the broader literary community) contemporaneous to their creation; discuss the theme of place in Joyce's works, especially in The Dubliners; more specifically, students will be able to describe the notion of place in Joyce's works as it relates to identity; identify the literary strategies and techniques Joyce uses in his works and cite examples of them from the texts read in class; trace the evolution of Joyce's writing style across his different books and compare the development of shared themes in his various novels; identify and discuss the main recurring themes in James's work, including immobility, religion, and maturation, and cite examples of these from his specific texts; summarize the use of language in Joyce's works, specifically Finnegans Wake, and point to this as an example of Joyce's unique aesthetic. (English Literature 406)

This subject traces the history of the European novel by studying texts that have been influential in connection with two interrelated ideas. 1) When serious fiction deals with matters of great consequence, it should not deal with the actions of persons of consequence--kings, princes, high elected officials and the like--but rather with the lives of apparently ordinary people and the everyday details of their social ambitions and desires. To use a phrase of Balzac's, serious fiction deals with "what happens everywhere". 2) This idea sometimes goes with another: that the most significant representations of the human condition are those dealing with persons who try to compel society to accept them as its destined agent, despite their absence of high birth or inheritance.

In this course, the student will examine the writings of a diverse group of medieval women and analyze the perceptions of reality that they present, taking into account critics' views on their works as well. The student will begin by acquainting ourselves with the major socio-historical developments that shaped women's role in the period. The student will then take a look at some major feminist and gender/sex-related approaches to literature, followed by readings of women-authored texts, examining their styles, techniques, and representations of the world around them. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: explain Medievalism as both a historical period and a movement in literature and the arts; provide an account of the role of women in the Middle Ages; explain the general intellectual climate of the Middle Ages; explain the significance of the Fall of the Roman Empire; explain the importance of Medieval oral traditions, the rise of literacy, cultures of chivalry, courtly love, Scholasticism, and the Church; describe the lives of Medieval women, wives, virgins, lovers, and mothers; explain the relationship between Medieval women and the Church in terms of theology, emerging religious communities, persecution, nunnery, scripture, hagiography, martyrdom, and sainthood; discuss Medieval concepts of gender and sexuality; explain the notion of secular female authorship; describe Medieval class structure and especially the nature of aristocratic and working-class women in the Middle Ages; identify and describe the formal and structural conventions of the Medieval lay; detail the themes of love, desire, romance, marriage, widowhood, and literary self-expression in the Medieval text; describe the major tenets, ideals, and ideas investigated in ChaucerĺÎĺĺÎĺs Canterbury Tales, especially from the perspective of the women in this complex text. (English Literature 407)

This course will introduce the student to the range of drama written and performed in England and Continental Europe between roughly 1660 and 1800. The student will explore the major plays, players, and playhouses from this era in conjunction with a thorough and in-depth historical contextualization. The course will focus on Restoration and eighteenth-century drama from various nationalistic perspectives, investigating the various genres that were prevalent during that time period. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: provide an introduction to and brief overview of both the Restoration and the eighteenth-century in terms of their history, politics, and culture and especially their drama; identify and describe the major movements and developments in the theatre of this era (including, for example, heroic drama, pathetic drama, Restoration comedy, sentimental comedy, political satire, and opera); compare and contrast the British drama from these eras to that of both Germany and France and especially in the context of the work of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Friedrich Schiller, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Pierre de Marivaux, and Voltaire. (English Literature 412)

Intensive study of a range of texts by a single author or by a limited group of authors whose achievements are mutually illuminating. Some attention to narrative theory, and biographical and cultural backgrounds. Instruction and practice in oral and written communication. Topic: Joyce's Ulysses and Its Legacy.

Extensive reading of works by a few major poets. Emphasizes the evolution of each poet's work and the questions of poetic influence and literary tradition. Instruction and practice in oral and written communication. Topic for Fall: Does Poetry Matter? Topic for Spring: Gender and Lyric Poetry.

This is a syllbus for English 2031 (Introduction to the Novel) at LSU Alexandria, which is course English 2303 on the statewide common course matrix. https://louis.oercommons.org/editor/documents/620

In this course, the student will study the ways in which the Victorian novel represented social, political, scientific, philosophical, and cultural concerns. The course will analyze the context in which the Victorian novel flourished, followed by analyzing the forms, concerns, and impulses of a number of prominent Victorian novels, discussing what makes each novel ĺÎĺĺĺŤVictorian.Ą_ĺĺö Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: provide an introduction and overview to the Victorian era and the Victorian novel; explain and define 'Victorianism' as both a historical period and as a movement in art and literature; explain and describe the major concerns of the Victorian novel; identify the major forms of the Victorian novel; discuss the Victorian authorship and novelistic impulses of the most canonical Victorian authors including, for example, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, the BrontĄ_Ě_̨ Sisters, Joseph Conrad, Elizabeth Gaskell, Thomas Hardy, and Anthony Trollope. (English Literature 410)

"This semester, we will read writing about travel and place from Columbus's Diario through the present. Travel writing has some special features that will shape both the content and the work for this subject: reflecting the point of view, narrative choices, and style of individuals, it also responds to the pressures of a real world only marginally under their control. Whether the traveler is a curious tourist, the leader of a national expedition, or a starving, half-naked survivor, the encounter with place shapes what travel writing can be. Accordingly, we will pay attention not only to narrative texts but to maps, objects, archives, and facts of various kinds. Our materials are organized around three regions: North America, Africa and the Atlantic world, the Arctic and Antarctic. The historical scope of these readings will allow us to know something not only about the experiences and writing strategies of individual travelers, but about the progressive integration of these regions into global economic, political, and knowledge systems. Whether we are looking at the production of an Inuit film for global audiences, or the mapping of a route across the North American continent by water, these materials do more than simply record or narrate experiences and territories: they also participate in shaping the world and what it means to us. Authors will include Olaudah Equiano, Caryl Philips, Claude L?vi-Strauss, Joseph Conrad, Jamaica Kincaid, William Least Heat Moon, Louise Erdrich, ?lvar N