During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the possibility of individual autonomy and freedom in the face of unprecedented social upheaval has been brought into question through the novel, a literary form which came to maturity in this time. The novels read in this course have been selected for their insights into the dilemmas of an age formed by political and economic revolutions where new collective forces have been brought into play. This class will consider the politics of race, class, colonialism, gender and nationhood in literature.
