Necessarily, this course has two subtitles: “Modern Novels and their Famous Antecedents” and “The Pleasures of Reading and Rereading.” To satisfy the first we will examine recent novels and their literary antecedents, paying close attention to whether the recent novels are dependent on or merely suggestive of their literary progenitors. To satisfy the second, we will discuss and often comment on what the pleasures of reading, especially close reading, actually are, bearing in mind that each of us may read for reasons that another may scorn. Together we will determine what we need to know to be good readers of contemporary fiction that revises, reinterprets, questions, parodies, or extends work of the past. By reading critically recent novels, students will acquire an appreciation of literary texts and contexts, old and new. Students taking this class will acquire an enhanced awareness of the reflections and refractions in the telling and retelling of stories which will never be forgotten.

A considerable number of recent novels are dependent on more than a familiarity with great literature of the past. But the imitative and often interpretive art of these works is often lost on readers unaware of literary antecedents. By recognizing the echoes in character, language, and theme, and by seeing the connections and correspondences (and sometimes the discontinuities) between literary works, students will be brought to a heightened awareness of the literary arts.

Jaws can be seen as a retelling of Moby Dick with an interesting acknowledgement of The Turn of the Screw (Peter Quint is the captain of the rescue ship in Jaws), and even The Bridges of Madison County has a parody called The Ditches of Edison County. Even The Wizard of Oz has a prequel in Wicked. But I have set a considerably higher standard of literary merit for the texts of the course. Among the works under consideration are the following:

• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin (movies available for both);
• Jack Maggs by Peter Carey and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens;
• Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles and Ourika by Claire de Duras (movies available for Hardy and Fowles);
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (movies available for both);
• King Lear by William Shakespeare and A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (movies available for both)
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (several movie versions available) and Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding (or Desire and Duty by Tad and Marilyn Bader or Presumption: An Entertainment by Julia Barrett);
• Christabel by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (plus a few love letters between Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning) and Possession by A.S. Byatt;
• The Book of Daniel and Sula by Toni Morrison;
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Hester by Christopher Bixby (move available for the former);
• Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (good movie) and The Hours by Michael Cunningham (movie coming), plus Mr. Dalloway by Robin Lippincott
• Also a selection of short stories.

Students will be required to write at least three reader responses, some computer postings, probably two essays (one of which may be a book or film review), and a final examination. Students will also be required to participate in one group presentation. The size of the class will determine the method of instruction, though I expect to have lively discussions between informal lectures. Movies, when available, will be shown in the late afternoon or evening, but seeing them will not be required.

This course is especially recommended for non-majors who want to read good books for a semester.