Course profile

The Novel: Realism, History, Fiction (ENGL2440)

Study period
Sem 1 2025
Location
St Lucia
Attendance mode
In Person

Course overview

Study period
Semester 1, 2025 (24/02/2025 - 21/06/2025)
Study level
Undergraduate
Location
St Lucia
Attendance mode
In Person
Units
2
Administrative campus
St Lucia
Coordinating unit
Communication & Arts School

How did the novel become the major literary form of the modern era? This course introduces students to the history of the novel from its eighteenth-century origins to the present day and provides a critical framework through which to understand and analyse the development of fictional realism.

The course tells the story of how the novel became the dominant genre of modern globalised literary culture by helping its readers to engage and imagine the various worlds they experienced. It does so by examining the development of the realist tradition across the eighteenth and nineteenth century, focusing both on narrative technique and on the genre’s increased cultural authority. We will reflect upon the history of the novel, ask what makes the novel 'novel', and consider how it continually re-invents itself as a form.

Authors to be studied include Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, Laurence Sterne, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Henry James. 

The course will familiarize students with:

  • the eighteenth-century origins of the novel form and in particular the development of literary ‘fictionality’ and its relation to ‘history’ and ‘romance’;
  • key formal and thematic developments focused on theories of realism;
  • the genre’s primary narrative techniques;
  • institutions of the novel, reception history and reading practices;
  • theories of the genre and its development.

Program rationale: In addressing a set of questions about the origins and ongoing significance of the novel form, the course is designed to complement and extend the English Literature cornerstone course on literary criticism and theory (ENGL2045 Thinking About Literature) and to function as a companion course to ENGL2040 Gothic Fiction. 

Teaching method: Lecture/tutorial format.

Schedule: The course follows a roughly chronological structure with week-to-week primary reading (usually 2 weeks per novel) supplemented by secondary materials.

Course requirements

Assumed background

This is a second-level courseﾠ(2000 coding), whichﾠassumes that you haveﾠalreadyﾠtaken #4ﾠunits of introductory courses (1000ﾠcoding), preferably including ENGL1800, Literary Classics.

The course does assume:

  • that you have had previous experience in studying literary texts, at a first-year level or later.
  • that you are able to writeﾠinﾠclear and preciseﾠEnglish.
  • that you haveﾠskills in close literary analysis, and that you are able formulate cogently argued and well-supported responsesﾠto literary texts in both oral and written form.

This course does not assumeﾠyou have alreadyﾠtaken coursesﾠin relevant literary periods (suchﾠasﾠENGL2040 Gothic Literature or ENGL2065 Jane Austenﾠand her Influence), though doing so will certainly enrich your contextual and background knowledge for this course.

Prerequisites

You'll need to complete the following courses before enrolling in this one:

4 units of BA list courses

Recommended companion or co-requisite courses

We recommend completing the following courses at the same time:

ENGL2040 (Gothic Fiction)

Restrictions

Course offering may be cancelled unless a minimum of 20 students enrol.

Course contact

Course staff

Lecturer

Tutor

Timetable

The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.

Additional timetable information

Whilst every effort is made to place students in their preferred activity, it is not always possible for a student to be enrolled in their tutorial of choice. If you require assistance, please ensure that you email timetabling.commarts@enquire.uq.edu.au from your UQ student email with: 

  • Your name 
  • Your student ID 
  • The course code 
  • A list of three tutorial preferences (in order of preference) 
  • Reason for the change – e.g. timetable clash, elite athlete status, SAP 

Teaching staff do not have access to change tutorials or help with timetables; all timetabling changes must be processed through the Timetabling Team. 

Aims and outcomes