The Novel as History
ENGL 370
Spring 2025
| Section:
01
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| Course Cluster and Certificates: Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory Certificate |
Ever since the historical novel's appearance in the early 19th century, the genre has flourished as a way to describe and invent the past. But historical novels tend to narrate history differently than traditional historiography, supplementing historical records, attending to overlooked psychic and material experiences, reimagining past lives and events to do work in the present. This course will examine the historical novel to explore how its formal strategies amend or improve upon conventional modes of writing history. Each week we will read historical novels paired with theoretical readings. Together this will allow us to think about how fiction might be uniquely positioned to address a range of topics including, but surely exceeding: memory, utopia, nationalism, romance, trauma, commemoration, objectivity, war, archives, realism, speculation, and the everyday. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (CSCT)(ENGL) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Leo Tolstoy, HADJI MURAT (1917)
Chinua Achebe, THINGS FALL APART (1958)
J.M. Coetzee, IN THE HEART OF THE COUNTRY (1977)
Yaa Gyasi, HOMEGOING (2016)
Anna Burns, MILKMAN (2018)
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Examinations and Assignments:
Weekly responses, mid-semester essay, final oral assessment
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Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course contributes to the following ENGL major requirements:
LH3; WL.
Research Option.
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| Instructor(s): Saint,Lily Leopold Times: .M.W... 01:20PM-02:40PM; Location: B2B3 SOUTH; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 6 | JR major: 6 | | |
| Seats Available: 11 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 1 | JR non-major: 1 | SO: 3 | FR: 2 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 2 | 1st Ranked: 1 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 1 | Unranked: 0 |
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