Seminar in Reading and Interpretation (300-0-20)
Topic
Realism
Instructors
Helen F Thompson
Meeting Info
University Library 5322: Mon, Wed 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
What is realism? Do we even need to ask? Realism guarantees that the fictional worlds of novels, stories, films, and TV resemble our worlds. Realism obeys the laws of gravity; like us, realist characters grapple with social forces they cannot magically transcend. Most important of all, we know that realist texts are lifelike but not literally true—and yet, when we read Pride and Prejudice, we don't think Jane Austen is lying to us. How have we come to occupy this distinctive cognitive posture? How has fiction come to epitomize the limits and possibilities of the real?
In English 300, we'll trace some key twists and turns in the emergence of British prose fiction that claimed to be lifelike. As it turns out, realism is a relatively recent literary invention with a turbulent history. We'll focus on texts and topics that shape the emergence of realism: the travel narrative, which tries to depict flora, fauna, and people that are inconceivable to an English audience; criminal biography, which exposes the duplicity of notorious characters to an eager reading public; and domestic fiction, which explores the tensions structuring family life. We'll read one novel that epitomizes nineteenth-century realism as social critique (by either Balzac or Dickens) before turning to two contemporary novels (Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad; Miriam Toews, Women Talking) that flout realist conventions while still affirming the urgency of their reference to the real. Along the way, we'll read shorter critical texts to explore realism and its limits with methods including narratology, ideological critique, and critical fabulation.
Teaching Method
The class is discussion-based.
Evaluation Method
Three short essays; optional group presentation.
Class Materials (Required)
William Dampier, A New Voyage Around the World (exerpted); Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders; Jane Austen, Emma; Honoré de Balzac, Père Goriot (in translation) or Charles Dickens, Bleak House; Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad; Miriam Toews, Women Talking. (We may also watch the film adaptation of Women Talking.)
Trigger warning: The Underground Railroad and Women Talking depict or refer to sexual violence.
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Attendance at 1st class mandatory