Description
This course intends to offer a detailed study and analytical reading of the six completed novels as well as her unfinished “seventh” by Jane Austen (1775-1817), one of the most fascinating and rewarding of British novelists. We will also look at the writers who influenced her, and place her work in a historical and theoretical context. Questions to be addressed among others will be: how much did Austen take from earlier woman writers, such as Fanny Burney and Mrs Radcliffe? How “Johnsonian” is her style? How “limited” or expansive is her field of concentration? How “feminine” are her novels? How does her famous irony work? How realistic, socially as well as psychologically, are her characters? Why are her novels still popular today?
Teaching method
Three-hour seminar per week
Course objectives
Based on the assumption that participants have already acquired the basic skills for the analysis of literary texts, this course aims to extend these skills both in terms of textual analysis (close reading) and contextual approach (cultural-historical as well as theoretical). Students will be encouraged to share analytical and theoretical views on the assigned texts in class discussions, including short presentations, and to focus research skills on a relevant subject of their own choice within the parameters of the course in the form of a final research paper.
Required reading
Peter Barry, Beginning Theory, Manchester University Press, 2nd edn, 2002.
Edward Copeland & Juliet McMaster, eds, The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen, CUP 1997.
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey.
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park.
Jane Austen, Emma.
Jane Austen, Persuasion.
Jane Austen, Sanditon.
Test method
Active participation in class (including the presentation of a weekly ‘reading report’) and a 5.000-word research paper will contribute for 50% each toward the final mark.
Time table
The timetable will be available from June 1st on the Internet.
Information
English Department, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 102c. Phone: 071 527 2144, or by mail: English@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Registration
Students can register through U-twist before 15 July, After 15 July students can only register through the Departmental Office.
Blackboard
Not available.
Remarks
A more detailed overview will be sent to participants before commencement of term.