This class will introduce you to a wide variety of genres from nineteenth-century England, including the slave autobiography, the social-problem novel, the sensation novel, and the adventure novel. We will discuss issues still relevant today, including slavery, gender roles, income inequality, and imperialism. Our novels will be supplemented with scholarly secondary sources and other non-fiction readings from the nineteenth-century. At the end of the semester, students will find and present on connections between the nineteenth-century and today. Course requirements include reading quizzes, short writing and research assignments, and a presentation.
Required Texts:
Mary Prince, The History of Mary Prince
Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton
Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret
H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon’s Mines