This two part course will debate the significance of place and space in a series of novels. In the first term we will look specifically at the role of the house: how it is linked to questions of values and identity and how it can be used as a metaphor to reflect social and historical change. Our choice of stories will range from the elusive quest of Mr Biswas for ‘his own portion of the earth’ on the Caribbean island of Trinidad to a tale set in Ireland during the struggle for independence concerning the last days of the once splendid Hotel Majestic.
In the second term we will narrow our focus to consider fiction in which a character or characters are trapped in a confined space, whether a prison, a sandpit, a boat – or merely within the limitations of the dialogue.
NB The first book, A House for Mr Biswas, is quite long (590pp in the Penguin Classics edition)
BOOK LIST
20 Oct. A House for Mr Biswas V.S.Naipaul
3 Nov. Mansfield Park Jane Austen
17 Nov. Howards End E.M.Forster
1 Dec. To be decided
15 Dec. Troubles J.G.Farrell