The novel is still the most popular form of narrative fiction, perhaps of literature in general. But why, and since when has this been the case? How did the novel develop into a global presence? And what exactly is (or is not) a novel? In this course, we will have a look at a number of different approaches to theorising the novel from Lukács, Bakhtin, Watt, Blumenberg, Moretti and others (to give just an arbitrary selection). Just to be clear: this is not a course on narratology or narrative theory in general, though we will probably also have to talk about things like ‘focalisation’. We will also read and discuss a few novels together: most likely Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas and Saunders’s Lincoln in the Bardo.
Recommended introductory reading: Bode, The Novel (2011)
- Trainer/in: Ingo Berensmeyer