Masterpieces of 19th-Century Fiction

Read 19th century American classics that have passed the test of time and are still of interest to contemporary readers. We will read that famous novel about a runaway boy, a runaway slave, and the mighty Mississippi from which, it is claimed, derives all modern American literature; a novel of an adulterous woman and her punishment that has been called a “perfect work of the American imagination,” a monumental, many-layered novel that adventures both out to sea and into the dark labyrinths of the human psyche; a progressive, feminist, anti-slavery masterpiece that was the century’s best-selling work of fiction; an archetypal study of an American in Paris that is now celebrated as an early classic by a great American master. Readings: Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn; Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter; Herman Melville, Moby Dick; Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Henry James, The American.

Students should read Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain for the first class.

 
Continuing Education Units (CEU) : 0

You'll walk away with

• Increased cultural literacy
• Familiarity with 19th-century literature

Ideal for

• The curious and creative
• Professionals who use critical thinking