Listen to a conversation between a student and a literature professor. I came to your class on Wednesday at the very end. Oh? The development of the American novel. Oh, I remember now, I'm not officially signed up for the class yet. You said to come see you so you could sign the enrollment form. But I don't actually have it, though, printer issues. Oh, that's okay. Just email it to me. I'll sign it and send it back. Thanks. I'll do that right away. And while you're here, let's run through some of the class syllabus and requirements. Okay. So this course focuses on several American novels, which you'll be required to read and discuss. You'll choose two of to write about. Well, just looking at the reading list, I already have a few ideas. Good. The sooner you start thinking about it, the better. Now I consider participation particularly important. It accounts for a large part of the grade, so it's crucial to come prepared and to participate constructively in class discussions. Okay? And there's no final exam as such, which makes your grades on the two critical essays even more important. Right. Now, the first book we're reading is by Nathaniel Hawthorne, but not one of his most read. Have you heard of the The Blithedale Romance? I've read it. Actually. I got into Hawthorne in high school, and I read most of his stuff. Great, you have a head start. But this time, you'll want to go through it and consider several questions, points will analyze in class. I'll email a copy of the list to you. Now, The Blithedale Romance is probably hawthorne's most personal novel. But it's not really autobiographical, is it? It draws on some actual experiences of the author, but we'll treat it as fiction. And it's hawthorne's most unconventional novel. And by this, I mean on the surface, it seems to lack structure. I remember being difficult. That's not surprising. It's often been criticized. You see, Hawthorne sets up a satirical point of view in the first half of novel, but doesn't maintain it. So the main critique is that the novel fails structurally. You may agree at first, but I think that after we're finished, after we've examined how Hawthorne uses the same themes throughout the book. Well, I think you'll change your mind. What do you remember from the book? Well, it seemed weird in places almost unreal, especially the second half. Well, the events of the second half of the novel could be thought of as the dreams of the narrator, and each dream begins with the narrator thinking about the other characters in the book or events in the first half of the book. But the second half also contains new developments in the story, though they're presented in a very hazy sort of way. In the end, we're not sure of the exact nature of these events, if they're actually taking place in the story, or if they're just in the narrator's head. Wow, I didn't get all that the first time around.