Major Authors, 1700-1900: Moby Dick vs. Middlemarch

Back when Twitter was still Twitter, professors of American and English literature used to have a running, half-joking debate about whether Herman Melville’s 1851 Moby-Dick or George Eliot’s 1872 Middlemarch was the greatest novel ever written. In this class, we’ll tackle this debate head on, reading both Melville’s story about a doomed whaling expedition and Eliot’s tale of English provincial life, then choosing sides. Everyone will write a paper arguing for their choice, after which we’ll constitute two teams who’ll each make a video or a podcast arguing their case. A panel of specially chosen judges will then deliberate, and officially declare a winner. Through this process, we’ll consider the question of what it means to argue that a work of art is good, and possibly better than another work of art. If you’re looking for a class that combines serious literary criticism with the art of being a cultural influencer, then this is the one for you!