2024/2025

Romance to Novel: Transformations of English Prose Fiction, 1485 – 1800

Type: Optional course (faculty)

Delivered by: School of Philological Studies

When: 4 module

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Artem Serebrennikov

Language: English

ECTS credits: 3

Course Syllabus

Abstract

In English, there is a subtle difference, hard to convey in other languages, between the terms romance and novel, finally crystallized by the late 18th century. The first term implies an “archaic” prose narrative, built around amorous and heroic deeds performed in a legendary or idealized setting. The second implies that the narrative describes a recognizable everyday reality with some degree of realism, and is the standard designation of the genre in modern English. The suggested course traces * how the vision of the genre and function of narrative prose evolved from the late Middle Ages to the late Enlightenment; * what different forms and styles are combined under the label of either romance or novel; * what motives, images and traditions that originated in English-language prose in the Early Modern era endure up to this day. The following texts are projected to be discussed during the course: 1. Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur 2. Philip Sidney, Arcadia 3. John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress 4. Aphra Behn, Oroonoko 5. Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe6. Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels 7. Henry Fielding, Tom Jones8. Tobias Smollett, Roderick Random 9. Samuel Richardson, Clarissa 10. Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy 11. Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto12. Clara Reeve, The Old English Baron13. Ann Radcliffe, The Italian 14. Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey