Mar 29, 2024  
2019-2020 Catalogue 
    
2019-2020 Catalogue [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

ENGL 12028 - LLC: Historical Fiction

Course Credit: 1
LLC: HISTORICAL FICTION In this course, we will study four historical novels and a range of short stories, as well as essays about the goals and practices of historical fiction. We will learn about the history of this contested genre and the ways readers and critics have responded to it over the last two centuries. How does historical fiction fit into and illuminate literary history? How do representations of history in fiction differ from putatively factual historical accounts? Can historical fiction really teach us about the past, or is it, according to L. P. Hartley’s much-quoted line, “a foreign country” whose inhabitants “do things differently” and whose psychologies are opaque to modern readers? We will consider the cultural contexts in which various historical fictions are produced as well as analyzing the structure, form, and style of these texts. NOTE: ENGL-120XX can be taken only once for departmental credit; students may take a second ENGL-120XX for College credit only. [AH]