ENGLISH 135C: The Fiction of Dickens and Carroll (seminar)

Taught by: Robert Polhemus

Fall Quarter, 2009-2010

MW 1:15-3:05, Room: ECON 218

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The central focus of this course is on the close reading of two of the most famous and influential fiction writers of the 19th c. in the English-speaking world: Charles Dickens and Lewis Carroll, their continuing significance, and our response to their work. The emphasis will be on their great wild, absurd great black humor and comedy, their social criticism, their representation of children, and the their work to visual imagery .

Class is an undergraduate discussion seminar.  Students will email weekly responses, present short reports, and write a take-home final (it’s possible to substitute a term paper for the final, if  the topic and its significance is approved). 

Texts:
Charles Dickens: The Old Curiosity Shop, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Little Dorrit
Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass

 

This course fulfills the following Major Requirements:

  • Topic: Single Author
  • Major's Seminar
  • Genre: Prose Fiction
  • Brit. Lit. 1750-1900 or Am. Lit. before 1900