First-Year Research Seminar: The Novel and Its Uses

Semester and Year	SP 2013
Course Number	FIRST-UG721
Section	001
Instructor	Karen Hornick
Days	Mon,Wed
Time	3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
Units	4.0
Level	U
Foundation Requirement

Notes/Restrictions

Open to Gallatin first-year students only.

Description

While the novel has been regarded as a vehicle for the highest artistic achievement, it has also been derided as a repository of empty, time-wasting fantasy. It has been seen as the quintessential modern literary form, crucial in the shaping of Western identity, but its origins are ancient and novels have been written in most languages within cultures throughout the world. It is a form much favored by scholars of literature, and yet it has often been appropriated for extra-literary purposes?as fonts of philosophical insight, sources of historical and anthropological information, and models for psychological and sociological writing. In this class we will approach these paradoxes and other problems having to do with the uses of the novel. Students will research, draft, and write three papers on topics such as: Where and when did the novel originate? Why are some novels considered "genre fiction" and others considered "art"? Do novels have particularly powerful psychological and didactic effects? Do novels reflect and disseminate ideas? What makes novels autobiographical? Historical? Philosophical? Readings may include novels by authors such as Defoe, Dickens, Emily Bront, Dostoevsky, Wharton, Fitzgerald, and Joyce, as well as works from outside the Western canon, popular fiction, and essays on the history of publishing and readership.

Syllabus

FIRST-UG721

Course Type

First-Year Program: Research Seminars (FIRST-UG)