The English Novel

Written by one of the world's leading literary theorists, this book provides a wide-ranging, accessible and humorous introduction to the English novel from Daniel Defoe to the present day. Covers the works of major authors, including Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Samuel Richardson, Laurence Sterne, Walter Scott, Jane Austen, the Brontes, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence and James Joyce. Distils the essentials of the theory of the novel. Follows the model of Eagleton's hugely popular "Literary Theory: An Introduction" (Second Edition, 1996).

Dr. Timothy Spurgin is the Bonnie Glidden Buchanan Professor of English Literature and Associate Professor of English at Lawrence University, where he has taught for more than 15 years. He received his B.A. at Carleton College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Virginia. A respected and admired lecturer, Professor Spurgin teaches courses on Romanticism, contemporary critical theory, and the English novel, among other topics. He has also served two terms as director of Lawrence University's freshman program—recognized as one of the best in the nation. Professor Spurgin has received two coveted teaching awards from Lawrence University—the Outstanding Young Teacher Award and the Freshman Studies Teaching Prize—and he is a three-time recipient of the Babcock Award, given by university students to the individual who, "through involvement and interaction with students, has made a positive impact on the campus community." Professor Spurgin's scholarly work has appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Dickens Studies Annual, and Dickens Quarterly.