Reading the European Novel to 1900

* Offers a close reading of individual texts with attention to their cultural and canonical context * Examines the history and evolution of the novel to 1900 and defines each author's aesthetic, cultural, political, and historical significance * Covers essential and frequently taught masterworks up to 1900, including Cervantes' Don Quixote; Tolstoy's War and Peace and Anna Karenina; Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, and The Brothers Karamazov; Stendhal's The Red and the Black and The Charterhouse of Parma; Flaubert's Madame Bovary and Sentimental Education; Balzac's Pere Goriot; and Zola's Germinal * Written with students and teachers in mind, this book provides accessible and engaging discussions of each novel, along with important pedagogical tools