gb - Englisches Seminar - Ruhr-Universität Bochum

ENGLISCHE LITERATUR VON 1700 BIS ZUR GEGENWART
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Vorlesung
050 636 Niederhoff
The English Novel in the Eighteenth Century: From Aphra Behn to Jane Austen,
2/2,5 CP
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2 st. do 8-10 HGB 10
The title of Ian Watt’s The Rise of the Novel implies that the novel came into being in
the eighteenth century, with Daniel Defoe as its founding father. In my lecture, I will
take a critical look at this assumption, taking into consideration the contribution of
such founding mothers as Aphra Behn. I will also discuss the problems involved with
the criterion of realism, which Watt and others attribute to the new genre of the novel.
A further emphasis will be on the representation of class conflict, which occurs
frequently in connection with marriage. The lecture will touch upon a broad range of
novels, but the main focus will be on the following works: Aphra Behn, Oroonoko;
Jane Barker, Love Intrigues; Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders and Robinson Crusoe;
Samuel Richardson, Pamela; Henry Fielding, Joseph Andrews; Tobias Smollett,
Humphry Clinker; Jane Austen, Emma. Students will have to read Joseph Andrews in
full and shorter excerpts from the other texts.
Assessment/requirements: written end-of-term test.