CLEN W4822 The Nineteenth-Century European Novel
Prof. Nicholas Dames
OVERVIEW
Our investigation of the European novel in its classic phase begins with the assumption that the novel is the preeminent literary form of middle-class, urbanized, economic modernity: the form that takes as its goal the charting of ordinary, everyday existence within a mobile, secular society, the society that came into being after the French Revolution. Along with symphonic music after Beethoven, or easel painting, the novel was the artistic form that best reflected and narrated the aspirations, dilemmas, and characteristics of the suddenly dominant European middle classes. Through a detailed critical reading of eight representative novels, we will be exploring the following topics: — The psychologies of the novel: its interest in descriptions of mood; consciousness; personal and collective memories; intimacy, seduction, desire. How the novel created the modern idea of "personality." — The sociologies of the novel: its interest in narrating the complex facts of money (or class), manners (or social codes), and ambition, as well as the new space of the metropolis (London, Paris, St. Petersburg). What the bourgeoisie was and is, and how its features found expression in the novel. — The histories of the novel: how these novels describe the collision of individuals with large historical events and processes, such as the growth of finance capitalism, the rise of new revolutionary energies, the erosion of formal class barriers. — Finally, the novel's invention of realism: the attempt to construct fictions that could nonetheless claim that "all is true." How realism worked, and what its formal features were, will be a recurrent concern. Finally, we will be learning to read novels as such—to acquire a vocabulary and set of skills for grasping the details of how novels are built, what they are made of, and how they work, in order to become better readers of modernity's most characteristic literary form.
REQUIRED TEXTS
— Goethe, Elective Affinities (Oxford World's Classics) — Stendhal, The Red and the Black (Oxford World's Classics) — Balzac, Père Goriot (Oxford World's Classics) — Dostoevsky, The Double (Dover) — Dickens, Great Expectations (Oxford World's Classics) — Turgenev, Fathers and Sons (Oxford World's Classics) — Flaubert, Sentimental Education (Oxford World's Classics) — Zola, L'Assommoir (Penguin) Supplementary readings to help in contextualizing the novels are collected in a course reader. The reader contains contemporary theory and criticism, as well as relevant texts in historiography, sociology, and science, and is meant to act as a companion to your reading.
SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS
Session 1:	Introduction: What is / was the novel?
	I. THE BILDUNGSROMAN: BIOGRAPHY, DEVELOPMENT, AMBITION
Session 2:	Stendhal, The Red and the Black
Session 3:	Stendhal, The Red and the Black
Session 4:	Stendhal, The Red and the Black
Session 5:	Stendhal, The Red and the Black
Session 6:	Balzac, Père Goriot
Session 7:	Balzac, Père Goriot
Session 8:	Balzac, Père Goriot
Session 9:	Dickens, Great Expectations
Session 10:	Dickens, Great Expectations
Session 11:	Dickens, Great Expectations
Session 12:	Dickens, Great Expectations
Session 13:	Dickens, Great Expectations           First paper due (5-6 pages)
	II. SOCIAL FORM: INTERACTIONS, CODES, GROUP NARRATIVES
Session 14:	Goethe, Elective Affinities
Session 15:	Goethe, Elective Affinities
Session 16:	Turgenev, Fathers and Sons
Session 17:	Turgenev, Fathers and Sons
Session 18:	Flaubert, Sentimental Education
Session 19:	Flaubert, Sentimental Education
Session 20:	Flaubert, Sentimental Education
Session 21:	Flaubert, Sentimental Education           Second paper due (5-6 pages)
	III. URBAN FORM: THE METROPOLIS AND MASS INDIVIDUALITY
Session 22:	Dostoevsky, The Double
Session 23:	Dostoevsky, The Double
Session 24:	Zola, L'Assommoir
Session 25:	Zola, L'Assommoir
Session 26:	Zola, L'Assommoir
Session 27:	Zola, L'Assommoir
Session 28:	Zola, L'Assommoir and Conclusion
	Take Home Final: Due Date TBA
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
There are three assignments in this course. The first two assignments are short (5-6 page) papers, and the third is a longer take-home final exam. There will be no midterm or in-class final exam. These assignments are timed to allow you as much leisure as possible for reading these long, rewarding novels. [NOTE: Requirements for graduate students will differ and be discussed in a separate meeting.] Bring your books to class and use your books: mark them, annotate them, rearrange them, cover them with notes and observations. With the large and often ungainly texts we'll be reading, marking them is often the best way to read well. You are encouraged to interrupt and ask questions in class. The following is a rough breakdown of the composition of the final grade for undergraduate students: 30% for each paper, and 40% for the take-home final.
SECTIONS     [LISTED UNDER THE RUBRIC CLEN W4922x] Registering for, attending, and participating in sections is mandatory for undergraduate students in this course. Your section leader will grade your assignments, be available for consultation, and will lead weekly discussion of the novels. In section you will be able to engage in seminar-style dialogue with a smaller group of your peers. The following are the course sections: CLEN W4922x Discussion Sections for the 19c Novel in Europe: —  Section 1: Wednesday 1:10-2 pm —  Section 2: Thursday 1:10-2 pm —  Section 3: Wednesday 1:10-2 pm —  Section 4: Thursday 1:10-2 pm —  Section 5: Wednesday 8:10-9 pm —  Section 6: Thursday 8:10-9 pm Registration for 19c European Novel: You do not register directly for the 19c European Novel lecture (CLEN W4822x). Instead, you ONLY register for one of the discussion sections listed above (CLEN W4922x). The department will later register you officially for the lecture itself.
MEETING OUTSIDE OF CLASS
The course does not stop at the classroom door. I encourage you to consult me, or the discussion section leaders, with any questions, problems, concerns, or ideas you might have. See me during office hours or contact me via email.