The 18th-Century Comparative Novel

Definitely the best pre-1800 class available, with the possible exception of James Shapiro’s Shakespeare. Prof. Davidson is enthusiastic to the point of logorrhea and a little awkward in office hours, but her deep knowledge of what’s going on, mixed with what could only have been real relish at reading the texts, is indispensable. She’s clearly read very widely into secondary texts, too, as you’ll actually want to read the assigned lit crit and follow up on her book recommendations. I liked this class enough that I was even slightly irked when she took off to run a marathon in Antarctica and cancelled seminar for a couple of weeks. Highly recommended. I’d take anything with Prof. Davidson except for Clarissa seminar, which she has an unfortunate habit of teaching pretty often.