Masterpieces of 19th-Century Fiction

Study five major 19th-century classics that have passed the test of time: a classic French novel about great fortunes, great crimes, and “the human comedy;" an extraordinary novel by the youngest of a legendary family of literary sisters and considered the most shocking of them all; a novel of hard fact, social protest, and oddball circus folk by England’s legendary great social novelist; a profound Russian novel of grand estates and radical rebels; a major late-century social novel that considers Victorian marriage, Victorian patriarchy and the countervailing emergence of “new women.” Readings: Honoré de Balzac, Eugenie Grandet; Anne Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall;  Charles Dickens, Hard Times; Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons; George Gissing, The Odd Women. Students should read Eugenie Grandet for the first class.

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