This course will provide selected readings of English and American novels written traversing a long period of time since the novel’s most dominant era from the nineteenth century to the current day, by several fiction writers who have been celebrated as the great novelists in their respective literary periods. For the limit of time, only excerpts from 3 representative novels are chosen for our discussion. The novels selected for each novelist are in turn Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Charlotte Brönte’s Jane Eyre, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
Additionally, we will watch several film adaptations of novels. Students therefore shall pay attention to the difference between the original and the adapted ones, to the agenda of the director, as well as to the effects on the viewers/readers.