Spring 2006 Courses

English 401-03: History of a Literary Genre: Letters & Diaries (English)

T/TH 2:45-4:14 pm, Carnegie 304

This seminar will focus on the history of epistolary novels and diary fiction, exploring and theorizing their significance and power in two periods, the late 18th century and the late 20th to early 21st centuries.  We will begin by studying some of the fictional books of letters that were among the earliest English and French novels, such as Fanny Burney’s Evelina, Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, and Chodleros de Laclos’s Dangerous Liaisons. We will also examine some 18th century letters and journals, both nonfictional and fictional, such as Burney’s Journal and Letters and Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and A Journal of the Plague Year.  We will then move on to contemporary texts—most, but not all, fictional—including books such as John Williams’s Clifford’s Blues, The Diary of Anne Frank, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, J. M. Coetzee’s Foe and Age of Iron, Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead, Go Ask Alice, Toi Derricotte’s The Black Notebooks, and Jeannette Winterson’s The PowerBook.  As we read, we will consider the origins and development of the English novel, while asking why the epistolary form was so prominent early in its history. We will also test the hypothesis that there has been a contemporary re-emergence of epistolary novels and/or diary fiction.  Throughout the semester, we will read a great deal in the history and theories of the novel.  Requirements for the course will include: presenting extensively on one of the books and directing class discussion of that book, writing brief weekly responses to the reading, and writing two papers of about 10 pages each.  This course will fulfill the “Capstone Experience” requirement for senior English majors.

Spring 2006 Course Listings