The long revolution that began with the political and industrial transformation of Western Europe more than 200 years ago has enveloped most of the world since that time. Many of the aspirations and the anxieties that have been released by that transformation reveal themselves in the literature of England during the 19th century. From various reflections on the Revolution in France in the 1790s to the dreamy utopianism of William Morris’ News from Nowhere (1891) a century later we see many of the patterns of contrast that command our attention after another century: political liberation/politicized terrorism; stunning industrial production/ecological disaster; the opening of a global economy/the subjection of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Our reading list will, I hope, illuminate that world and help to explain our own. Lecture, discussion, short essays.

Texts:

• Mary Shelley. Frankenstein. Dover Thrift Ed. [0 486 28211 2]
• Charles Dickens. Tale of Two Cities. Penguin Classics (paper; R. Maxwell, ed.). [9780141439600]
• John Ruskin. On Art and Life. Penguin Books: Great Ideas series. [0 14 303628 9]
• William Morris, News from Nowhere. Penguin Books. [9780140433302]
• Joseph Conrad. Heart of Darkness. Dover Thrift Ed. [0 486 26464 5]