Seminar in Reading and Interpretation (300-0-20)

Topic

Austen and Other Genres

Instructors

Helen F Thompson

Meeting Info

University Hall 418: Tues, Thurs 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

As a critical methods seminar for English majors and minors, English 300 will enhance your interpretive, analytic, and argumentative skills. To that end, this class explores new ways to read Jane Austen in both her historical context and our contemporary moment. Whether you're a stranger to Austen or a devoted Janeite, this class will give you surprising insights into her connections to the social, domestic, and aesthetic movements of her time. We will pair three Austen texts with three earlier novels: Pride and Prejudice and Mary Hays's radical feminist novel The Victim of Prejudice (1799); Emma and Daniel Defoe's criminal autobiography Moll Flanders (1722); Northanger Abbey and the mass-popular Gothic novel A Sicilian Romance (1790) by Ann Radcliffe. We'll accompany each pairing with critical texts in contemporary feminism and queer studies; narratology; and genre studies (on the Gothic). The class will conclude by looking at some contemporary TV or film renderings of Austen (e.g., Bridgerton, Clueless, or Pride and Prejudice).

Attendance at first class meeting is mandatory.

Class Materials (Required)

Jane Austen, Emma. Broadview Literary Texts. ISBN: 9781551113210
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey. Broadview Literary Texts. ISBN: 9781551114798
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice. Broadview Literary Texts. ISBN: 9781554814893
Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders. Broadview Literary Texts. ISBN: 9781551114514
Mary Hays, The Victim of Prejudice. Broadview Literary Texts. ISBN: 9781551112176
Anne Radcliffe, A Sicilian Romance. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780199537396

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Attendance at 1st class mandatory

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Pre-registration -- Reserved for English students.