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

Topic

Jane Austen and the Culture Wars

Instructors

Vivasvan Soni

Meeting Info

Harris Hall L06: Mon, Wed 3:30PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

The enduring appeal of Jane Austen's novels is due in part to the fact that the historical and cultural debates in which she intervened are very much the same ones that confront us today: tradition v innovation, parental authority v filial obligation, customary social bonds v contractual relations, emotion v reason, the role of women in society, the value of the arts. This class will consider Jane Austen's development as a writer, in the context of the "culture wars" in Britain in the 1790s, in the wake of the French Revolution. Is Austen a radical or conservative novelist? Does she defend the values of a dying aristocracy, or champion a new middle class sensibility? How does she respond to the jarring changes affecting her society? Does she assert the privileges of the governing classes or urge the rights of silenced groups (especially young women)? Does she offer a traditional or progressive view of marriage? Should children make their own choices in marriage or defer to parental authority? How do her novels cultivate good judgment? Do the arts have a progressive role in transforming society or a conservative one in maintaining traditional values? These are some of the questions we will examine as we read a range of her novels. Our goal will be to understand the experimental and fluid nature of Austen's thought, as well as the way in which she transformed the history of the novel.

Class Materials (Required)

Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Oxford World Classics)
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (Penguin)
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (Oxford World Classics)
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (Norton Critical Edition)
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (Oxford World Classics)
Jane Austen, Persuasion (Oxford World Classics)

Class Attributes

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