EN 393.01 Jane Austen and Her Contemporaries (Fall 2012-2013: 3)
In this class, we will read Jane Austen's six major novels through the lens
of new historicism, a practice of reading that foregrounds the role of literature
in shaping social understandings. Thinking about literature as social process,
we will discuss the cultural work done by Austen and other writers of her
era, including Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth, and Mary Wollstonecraft.
Along the way, we will have the opportunity to consider a number of topics,
including emerging definitions of femininity, new-style patriarchy, slavery
and abolition, the gothic, and evolving understandings of rank and class
in late eighteenth-century British society. Readings for this class total
about 300 pages a week, including some theoretical and critical materials.
Written assignments include three short papers and a final.
Elizabeth Wallace
Last Updated: 01-FEB-12