This prose seminar will explore the works of Jane Austen, with particular emphasis on her early novels. Students will read and analyze Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park. We will also look at short extracts of Emma, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey and Austen’s unfinished novel, named The Brothers or Sandition. Students will be invited to examine Austen’s style, themes, and her innovations in prose fiction. We will also consider Austen’s critical fortunes across time and look at some prose and cinematic adaptations of Austen’s novels.
Students should read Sense and Sensibility during the winter break and come to the first class ready to discuss this text
Credit requirements are regular attendance, active participation and an end of term paper of 3000 words. The number of students in this course is limited to thirty. Only the first thirty students to register will be accepted as participants.
Students should purchase Penguin Classics editions of the novels.