Courses

This seminar examines the emergence of the private, discrete self in novels and stories from Jane Austen to Edith Wharton. In many of these texts, there are keys scenes in which the protagonist remains totally alone and isolated, or experiences the world in a way that is purely personal and solitary. Under these pressures, the character emerges more fully, completely and intensely than the society around or the world of relationships. The knowledge gained, the desire felt, become more powerful and dramatic than in many of the social scenes. In other texts, pure solitude creates schism and confusion in the self, thus creating a dark drama of fracture and division.