ENG 3243: Fielding and DickensOffice: MB 2.482

(This course may be repeated when topics change.)Office Hrs.: MWF 12.30-1:00

Fall 2009Email:

StolerCell phone: (210) 954-1507

This course is designed to demonstrate how Fielding founded the panoramic novel that Dickens was to make into the most popular form of fiction in the nineteenth century. The class will read a very short handout of Richardson’s Pamela, generally considered to be the first modern English novel, and then will read Fielding’s humorous and racy short parody of it, Shamela. Next, we will read Fielding’s Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones, his masterpiece. Our first Dickens’ novel will be Pickwick Papers, a very funny book heavily indebted to Fielding. This work is a long one and, since it follows Tom Jones, I will give the class a list of about 150 abridged pages (which, of course, you are welcome to read). The next work will be The Old Curiosity Shop, a work enormously popular in the United States, and one which demonstrates how Dickens quickly found his own voice in fiction. Bleak House, often considered Dickens’ masterpiece, will follow. The shortest novel in the Dickens canon, Hard Times, will be next on the reading list. We will conclude the class with Great Expectations, another masterpiece that is the best structured of Dickens’ fifteen novels. Both these writers are humorists and satirists with great comedic talents.

The readings will be in this order:

Richardson, Pamela (a VERY short handout)

Fielding, Shamela (in the same volume as the following work)

Fielding, Joseph Andrews

Dickens, Pickwick Papers (abridged)

Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop

Dickens, Bleak House

Dickens, Hard Times

Dickens, Great Expectations

Since Tom Jones is a long work, I suggest you begin reading it asap. As soon as you finish a work, you should IMMEDIATELY begin reading the next work on the list.

You may use editions of these works other than those I have ordered, but remember that if you do, you might have some difficulty following specific references in the texts during our discussions since the pagination will be different.

Grades will be determined as follows:

Quizzes on readings and lectures

Two short exams

A short final exam

Two papers (4-6 pages each)

The structures and topics for exams and papers will be discussed in class well in advance of due dates.