Introduction to the Novel 2015-2016

Questions for Midnight’s Children

The recommended edition of Midnight’s Children is from Vintage Classics.

Here are some questions to consider while reading and note-taking. While still, of course, optional, it is recommended that you keep these particular themes and ideas in mind as you read through the text for our discussion.

The novel joins many concepts together: here and there, then and now, reality and dreams. How is this articulated? What grows in the cracks between these joints?

To what extent is Midnight’s Children an example of magical realism?

How is the narrator portrayed in the novel? When does the narrator disappear? When is he most obvious?

The body is present throughout the novel. How is the body portrayed?

How is cultural and national identity portrayed in the novel?

Questions for Wide Sargasso Sea

The recommended edition of Wide Sargasso Sea is the Norton Critical Edition, edited by Judith L. Raiskin. It contains useful critical material. The novel is also available through Penguin Modern Classics.

Here are some questions to consider while reading and note-taking. While still, of course, optional, it is recommended that you keep these particular themes and ideas in mind as you read through the text for our discussion.

What is the novel’s relationship with colonialism? Is it a colonial novel? A postcolonial novel?

How does our reading of Jane Eyre change in light of Wide Sargasso Sea?

How does Jean Rhys use voice in this novel? How do characters communicate effectively?

How is memory represented and used in Wide Sargasso Sea?

How is the idea of belonging addressed in Wide Sargasso Sea?

The deadline for this essay is 12 noon April 4th, 2016. Essays must be submitted electronically to h.e.monforton (at) dur.ac.uk. You will receive the marked essay, including constructive feedback, on April 30th during our last tutorial of Epiphany term. Handback sessions are not mandatory but encouraged—let me know if you wish to have one and we can schedule one.

As before, the essay must be between 1,500—2,000 words in length. You must place your chosen essay title at the top of the first page. Please consult the library website for information on formatting and citation styles. I will be especially noting your adherence to our formatting and citation style.

You may only write on novels on which you have not already written an essay. Whichever novel(s) you wrote on for your Michaelmas essay must be excluded as sources for this essay.

If you are unable to submit your essay due to circumstances outside your control, please let me know in advance of the essay’s deadline. Extensions may be granted but only if given adequate notice.

As before, this essay is formative. It is to assess your strengths and weaknesses so we may encourage the former and correct the latter. I, as your tutor, am here to help you. If you have any difficulties or questions, please do not hesitate to email me.

Essay Titles (Pick One)

‘One of the most compelling features of the novel as a literary form is its profound concern with the dramatic transformation of character’. Discuss with reference to TWO OR MORE novels.

‘If you’re a little uncertain of my reliability, well, a little uncertainty is no bad thing’ (Midnight’s Children). Consider the construction and effects of unreliable narrators in TWO OR MORE novels.

‘The author’s judgement is always present . . . Though the author can to some extent choose his disguises, he can never choose to disappear.’ Discuss this idea with reference to any TWO OR MORE novels you have studied this year.

‘The past casts a lengthy shadow over the “present” of the novel. It cannot be forgotten, nor can it be escaped.’ Discuss the significance of the past AND/OR memory in TWO OR MORE novels.

Questions for Heart of Darkness

The recommended edition of Heart of Darkness is, as ever, the Norton Critical Edition ed. Paul B. Armstrong. The Broadview Text ed. D. Goonetilleke, from Broadview Press (1999) also contains critical material you may find useful. The text is also available through Oxford World Classics and Penguin Classics.

Here are some questions to consider while reading and note-taking on Heart of Darkness, our first tentative foray into modernism.

’Even when characters act as narrators, they behave more like novelists, shaping and improving their own stories’ (David Lodge). How far does this statement reflect your reading of Marlowe’s narration in Heart of Darkness?

‘Conrad’s kind of language represents not a failed attempt to capture experience but rather an effort to suggest an experience for which normal language is inadequate’ (D.C.R.A. Goonetilleke). How does Conrad explore the possibilities and limitations of language in Heart of Darkness?

Is there a clear and consistent view of colonial politics in Heart of Darkness? If so, how? If not, why not?

What are the stylistic qualities that have given Heart of Darkness its reputation as a modernist, experimental work of fiction?

‘It starts out as a Victorian story of travel and adventure in Africa, but modulates into a startlingly modern, symbolist evocation of chaos and corruption.’ Do you agree with this review?

Questions for Bleak House by Charles Dickens

The recommended edition of Bleak House is the Oxford World’s Classics edition, edited by Stephen Gill. It is also available through Wordsworth Classics. In addition to reading any supplementary material presented in these editions, it is also recommended you take note of archaic words and phrases present in the novel. For instance, a ‘Mercury in powder’ is a footman or doorman employed to announce visitors (Mercury being the Roman messenger god).

Here are some questions to consider while reading and note-taking on this massive novel. While still, of course, optional, it is recommended that you keep these particular themes and ideas in mind as you read through the text for our discussion.

Bleak House was first published as a serial over the course of 19 months. In what ways is it useful to keep this in mind when reading the text?

What is the importance of the double narrative in Bleak House?

How does authorial judgement play into this novel? What are its politics?

It has been said that Bleak House is a novel of progress rather than of resolution. Do you agree?

What are the comedic elements of Bleak House? How does the novel present comedy and tragedy within the same story?

Questions for Jane Eyre

The recommended edition of Jane Eyre is, as ever, the Norton Critical Edition ed. Richard J. Dunn, as it includes secondary reading material you may find useful. The Broadview Text ed. R. Nemesvari, from Broadview Press (1999) also contains useful contextual material. The text is also available through Oxford World Classics and Wordsworth Classics.

Here are some questions to consider while reading and note-taking on Jane Eyre. Still optional, but recommended as you develop your one-page response to this text.

'"So much has religion done for me; turning the original materials to the best account; pruning and training nature"' (St John Rivers in Jane Eyre) How are God, forgiveness, and religion portrayed in Jane Eyre? What characters exemplify these views, and how does the text ask us to consider them?

How does the supernatural weave through the novel? What effect does it have on the narrative?

How does the language of Jane Eyre change as Jane develops her sense of self?

What are the gender politics of Jane Eyre? What is Bertha Mason’s relationship to the text?

What are the intense moments of feeling in Jane Eyre? How does Brontë dramatize these moments?

The deadline for this essay is 12 noon November 23rd, 2015. Essays must be submitted electronically to h.e.monforton (at) dur.ac.uk. You will receive the marked essay, including constructive feedback, on November 30th during our last tutorial of Michaelmas term.

The essay must be between 1,500—2,000 words in length. You must place your chosen essay title at the top of the first page. Please consult the library website for information on formatting and citation styles (there will be more on this emailed to you later).

You are welcome to write on any of the novels on the module. Do not feel obliged to write only on the novels we have already discussed in the tutorials. I encourage you to write on later novels if you have read ahead.

If you are unable to submit your essay due to circumstances outside your control, please let me know in advance of the essay’s deadline. Extensions may be granted but only if given adequate notice.

This essay is formative. It is to assess your strengths and weaknesses so we may encourage the former and correct the latter. I, as your tutor, am here to help you. If you have any difficulties or questions, please do not hesitate to email me.

Essay Titles (pick one)

‘I have a great deal of difficulty in beginning to write my portion of these pages’ (Esther, Bleak House) To what extent are the narrators of the novels you have studied aware that they are narrators, and with what effect?

‘It is widely agreed … that the novel has a specially intimate connection, amongst literary forms, with reality’ (Stephen Hazell). How far do the novels you have studied support this statement?

To what extent is the function of the novel one of social and moral criticism?

Discuss how two or more of the novels you have studied use female narrators to explore questions of gender and gender identity.