The course will follow a variety of theoretical approaches to the “Rise of the Novel” – was it an evolutionary process, or a revolutionary event? What were the changes this genre went through – especially as it evolved, or as of the Realist novel into the 20^th and 21^st centuries? Readings will include Marxist, Feminist, Queer, New Historicist and Comparative Literature vs World Literature theories; major novels, and cinematic adaptations.