THE ENGLISH NOVEL

Novels come in all types and sizes--some profound, some unreadable. Professor Spurgin tries to make sense of this wild array, but in the English tradition only. He explores its history and major figures over the past 250 years, from Richardson to Woolf. Confining himself to that tradition does not limit Spurgin, however. His lectures are comprehensive but never dull. True, he concentrates less on the style of the individual writers--the playful precision of Austen and the flamboyance of Dickens, for example--than on their contribution to the larger themes in the tradition, but this is a course on the novel, not its individual representatives. As always, The Teaching Company includes a handy guidebook and complete transcripts of the lectures. P.E.F. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 07]