17315
Undergraduate Course
WiSe 15/16: PS-Surveying English Literatures II: Thomas Hardy: The Early Novels
Jeff Thoss
Comments
This class introduces students to one of the major Victorian novelists, Thomas Hardy (1840-1928). It focuses on three of Hardy's earlier so-called Wessex novels about life in rural Southwest England: Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Return of the Native (1878). While practicing basic skills and methods of interpreting narrative texts, we will discuss the three novels in connection to topics such as Victorianism, industrialization and urbanization, realism and naturalism as well as Hardy's pictorial and cinematic narrative style. Reading of the primary texts will be complemented by a selection of criticism and theory.
Participants will have to meet the standard requirements: regular attendance, response papers and a short presentation are obligatory, credits can be obtained by submitting a term paper.
NB: It's hardly a secret that Victorian novels tend to be long; reading Under the Greenwood Tree during the term break and getting a head start on Far from the Madding Crowd will help to keep the reading assignment manageable during the semester.
Required texts: Please obtain the three novels discussed in class in a critical edition such as Penguin Classics, Oxford's Worlds Classics, Norton Critical Edition, etc. (Hardy was subject to censorship and tended to revise his novels repeatedly, hence an edition that records textual variants is indispensable.) close
15 Class schedule
Additional appointments
Thu, 2015-10-15 14:00 - 16:00Regular appointments
Thu, 2015-10-22 14:00 - 16:00
Thu, 2015-10-29 14:00 - 16:00
Thu, 2015-11-05 14:00 - 16:00
Thu, 2015-11-12 14:00 - 16:00
Thu, 2015-11-19 14:00 - 16:00
Thu, 2015-11-26 14:00 - 16:00
Thu, 2015-12-03 14:00 - 16:00
Thu, 2015-12-10 14:00 - 16:00
Thu, 2015-12-17 14:00 - 16:00
Thu, 2016-01-07 14:00 - 16:00
Thu, 2016-01-14 14:00 - 16:00
Thu, 2016-01-21 14:00 - 16:00
Thu, 2016-01-28 14:00 - 16:00
Thu, 2016-02-04 14:00 - 16:00
Thu, 2016-02-11 14:00 - 16:00