Why were so many 20th century novelists fascinated with history? (Why are so manhy 21st century students so bored with it?) Has the very concept of "history" changed over the course of the last century? Such questions will underlie our work in this seminar. We will read a number of novels in which various concepts of history help to shape the course of fictional events. These are not conventional "historical" novels, (no swashbuckling heroes, or endlessly detailed battle scenes). Instead we will study some difficult and perplexing books, whose authors realize that the linkage between "history" and "truth" is often uncertain. Be prepared to read closely and analytically.

Texts: D.H. Lawrence, The Rainbow; Virginia Woolf, Orlando; Graham Swift, Waterland; Julian Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot; Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day.