ENGL 260-01, British Literature Since 1800, Spring 2003

Abstract

This is a course in the literary history of the last two centuries. However, when I say this, I am using the term “literary history” in a double way. First and most simply, the course is a “literary history” in that it provides a brief chronicle of what people in Britain wrote over the course of the last two hundred years. It’s a history of the literature. But in a more broad and far-reaching way, the course also gives us a look at the entire history of the last two hundred years—the changing cultures of England, Scotland, and Ireland, their economics, philosophy, politics, and daily life-- through the lens of their books and magazines. In this way, the course presents history through literature.