This class is a study of modern-fiction landmarks, with special emphasis on artistic method and the transformation of the novel as a genre. Topics include: modernity and the quest for meaning; the crisis of public and private values; authority and point of view; irony and ambiguity; modes of consciousness; temporal and spatial structures; self-reflexive language and stylistic experiment. The course has a serious load: we’ll read five medium-length novels all of which require heightened attention to detail and much reflection. Requirements and Grading: final = 2 grade units; mid-term = 1 grade unit; quizzes, attendance, and participation = 1 grade unit. All students must read Sentimental Education before the first meeting. Texts and Editions: Gustave Flaubert, Sentimental Education. (Oxford World’s Classics) Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent. (Oxford World’s Classics) Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway. (Harvest) Franz Kafka, The Trial. Tr. by Breon Mitchell. (Schoecken) Samuel Beckett, Molloy. (Grove Press)