Reading the European Novel to 1900

1900 is an engaging and in-depth examination of the European novel from Cervantes’ Don Quixote to Zola’s Germinal.  In Daniel R. Schwarz’s inimitable style, which balances formal and historical criticism in precise, readable prose, this book offers close readings of individual texts with attention to each one’s cultural and canonical context. 

Major texts of the period are included: 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.

Throughout, Schwarz examines the history and evolution of the novel during this period and defines each author’s aesthetic, cultural, political, and historical significance. Incorporating important pedagogical suggestions and the latest research, this text provides accessible and lucid discussion of the European novel to 1900 for students, teachers, and general readers interested in the evolution of the novelistic form.