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.

Texts and Editions: Gustave Flaubert, Sentimental Education (Oxford World’s Classics). Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent (Oxford World’s Classics). James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Dover Thrift). Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (Harvest). Franz Kafka, The Trial (Schoecken).