18th-Century Fiction (344-0-20)

Topic

There's Something about Jane: Jane Austen's Romant

Instructors

Douglas R O'Hara

Meeting Info

Parkes Hall 224: Mon, Wed 11:00AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

Topic: There's Something about Jane: Jane Austen's Romantic Comedies.

Course Description: The course of true love never did run smooth and the novels of Jane Austen (1775-1817) are no exception. Austen's heroines typically are kept apart from her heroes by prudence, error, or "low connections," during which time readers are treated to scandalous affairs involving dashing ne'er-do-wells, marriage proposals from petty fools, timely injuries to romantic rivals, and satirical portraits of various wannabes and oughtabes. As the song goes, however, love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. Eventually, then, all of these obstacles are overcome and the heroine and hero marry, signifying a new social order that promises to be better than the old. What are we to make, however, of heroines who are not especially romantic, or even that likeable? Of all these stories taking place during the Napoleonic Wars, which are barely mentioned? Of nearly all Austen's heroines and heroes being members of the landed gentry at a time when their wealth was often derived from plantation slavery? Of the aristocratic values Austen champions at a time when democracy was finding its foothold in Europe and America? In short, our challenge will be to hold in our minds Austen's delightful genius and exquisite prose alongside what seems, at first glance at least, to be her dubious politics as we explore the extent to which her novels remain a productive field of engagement for our contemporary concerns. Novels will include Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion. Films will include Master and Commander, Bride and Prejudice, Clueless, and Late Spring.

Class Notes

test field

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area