Realism. This course will emphasize issues of form in connection with modes and ideologies of nineteenth-century realist fiction. We will read a cross-section of European fiction (shorter works to the extent possible), together with representative 19th-century manifestos and influential 20th-century criticism. The fiction (subject to change) will include domestic fiction, historical novel, high realism, romantic realism, local fiction, and imperial realism. Probable texts: Austen, Mansfield Park; Dickens, Barnaby Rudge; Flaubert, Sentimental Education; Melville, "Benito Cereno"; Fontane, The Poggenpuhl Family; and Conrad, "Heart of Darkness." Essays and secondary readings will come from such authors as Scott, Balzac, George Eliot, Flaubert, Chernyshevsky, Zola, James; Lukács, Auerbach, Barthes, Jameson, Moretti, Achebe.

Instead of a long paper, students will give a class report and submit two writing assignments: a style analysis and a review of a recent critical book.