To date the novel is the most successful genre, with innumerably diverse forms and features and an ever-increasing international readership. This course engages with three seminal developments in the history of the novel: the epistolary novel, fully developed in the long 18th century, the historical novel of Sir Walter Scott and finally, the graphic novel. With Pamela, Or: Virtue Rewarded (1740) Samuel Richardson created the first English international bestseller and successfully developed and established the epistolary novel that had its origins in the century. Pamela also introduced authors to the possibilities of transmediality, as merchandise (playing cards, fans, prints etc.) and sequels or parodies were developed. Scott’s Ivanhoe (1820) is not merely another example of the historical novel, a genre Scott created, but has also be blamed for the medievalism that permeated Victorian art and architecture. Focusing on a “clash of civilizations” between the Norman rulers and the Saxon population (amongst them the legendary Robin Hood), the novel deals with topics close to the heart of its Victorian readers in its questioning of progress, national unity, and authenticity, while it also reaffirms the genre’s traditional roots in romance. Shaun Tan’s graphic novel The Arrival (2006) embeds visual narratives within other visual narratives and easily straddles dystopia, science-fiction, immigration narrative, social novel and allegory, achieving its universal appeal by a complete rejection of legible text. Touchingly lyrical as well as whimsical and fantastic, it narrates the story of a refugee to a fictive society, and addresses the process by which humans create homes and narrate selves. Course requirements will be discussed at the beginning of class. Please obtain and read the below edition of Pamela by the beginning of term (e-books are accepted); there will be tests on primary text knowledge to ensure your active course participation.
Further Reading:
Fludernik, Monika. Erzähltheorie: Eine Einführung. Trier: WBG, 2013
Bode, Christoph. Der Roman: Eine Einführung. Tübingen: Francke UTB, 2011.
