Reading

Here is a list of books that you should purchase for this class:

Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret (Broadview 9781551113579)
Bronte, Jane Eyre (Norton 9781319107536)
Hardy, Jude the Obscure (Norton 97803937527)
Sewell, Black Beauty (Broadview 9781554812882)
Shelley, Frankenstein (Norton 9780393927931)

Please purchase print copies.  We need to be able to turn to the same pages and passages quickly, and that is not possible unless we all have the same book.

I also recommend The Bedford Glossary of Literary and Critical Terms.  (9780312461881).  If you’re majoring or minoring in English, you’ll find it to be a helpful resource.  As this is a writing course, you will need access to some kind of writing handbook.  Many classes here use The St. Martin’s Handbook (9781319107536), and you may already have a copy (if it’s an earlier edition than the one I ordered, that’s ok).  Another good option is the Purdue Online Writing Lab (owl.purdue.edu).

There’s no way around the fact that the novels we’re reading are long.  Get in the habit of marking the text as you read so that you have an initial record of what you noticed.  In class, we’ll talk further about the reading challenges presented by these texts–a topic of discussion for  19th-century readers as well.  To help us all remember what we’ve read, as a class we’ll also compile a set of reading notes for each novel.  Those notes will serve as the basis for class discussions, and also for the annotated passage and essay  assignments.

It is important that everyone in the class have the same editions so that, during discussion, we can all turn quickly and easily to the same page.   Although some of our course texts are available in other editions, not all editions are reliable.  And some provide better textual notes (better for the purposes of our class) than others.  I had all of these issues in mind when I selected the specific editions for this course.  If you do not buy your books through the College Store, please check the ISBN numbers to be sure you have the same edition.  Wherever you buy your books, be sure you have them in time to fully prepare for class.   If you have any difficulty getting the books you need, let me know as soon as possible so that I can help you.