Jane Austen and the Romantic Novel Syllabus

Jane Austen and the Romantic Novel

Books (in the order we'll read them):

Claire Tomalin, Jane Austen: A Life (Random House, 1999) ISBN 0679766766.
Frances Burney, Evelina (1778), ed. Susan Kubica Howard (Broadview Press, 2000) ISBN 155111237X. (Read over break, discuss week #1).
Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest (1791), ed. Chloe Chard (Oxford University Press, 1999). ISBN: 0192837133
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (composed 1798-1803, published 1818) ed. John Davie (Oxford University Press, 1998) ISBN 0192833685.
Maria Edgeworth, Belinda (1801), ed. Kathryn J. Kirkpatrick (Oxford, 1998) ISBN 0192837095.
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, ed. Kathleen James-Cavan (Broadview, 2001) ISBN 155111125X.
Jane Austen, The Juvenilia of Jane Austen, ed. Frances Beer (Penguin, 1986) ISBN 0140432671.
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1812), ed. Vivien Jones (Penguin, 1996) ISBN: 0140434267.
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (1814), ed. Claudia L. Johnson (Norton, 1998) ISBN 0-393-96791-3.
Jane Austen, Emma (1816), ed. Fiona Stafford (Penguin, 1997) ISBN 0140434151.
Jane Austen, Persuasion, ed. Linda Bree (Broadview, 1998) ISBN 1551111314.

Course Calendar

Jan 9: Frances Burney, Evelina (1778).

Jan 16: Read Jane Austen, The Juvenilia of Jane Austen, especially "The Watsons" and "Lady Susan" (if they are not in this volume, they are in the Northanger Abbey volume). Begin Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest (1791).

Jan 23: Read Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest (1791).

Jan 30: Read Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (composed 1798-1803, revised 1817, published 1818). Begin Maria Edgeworth, Belinda (1801). Presentation: Sara Fancher.

Feb 6: Read Maria Edgeworth, Belinda (1801), ed. Kathryn J. Kirkpatrick (Oxford, 1998) ISBN 0192837095. Presentation: Julia Gottlieb.

Feb 13: Read Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility. Presentation: Katie Jorgenson.

Feb 20: Begin Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1812).

Feb 27: Finish Pride and Prejudice. Presentation: Kelly Elverson.

Mar 6: Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (1814). Be sure to read "Lover's Vows," in our editon of Mansfield Park. Presentation: Betsy Donaldson.

Mar 20: Finish Mansfield Park.

Mar 27: Begin Jane Austen, Emma (1816), ed. Fiona Stafford (Penguin, 1997) ISBN 0140434151. Presentation: Lynn Huang and Greta Pane.

Apr 3: Finish Emma. We'll also read a few essays on Emma for this meeting.

Apr 10: Read Jane Austen, Persuasion. Presentation: Clare Wang.

Apr 17: Finish Persuasion. To end the course, we'll read Austen's unfinished novel, Sanditon (in the Northanger Abbey volume). Presentation: Tracy Tripp.

Assignments

One Presentation of about 15 minutes: Each of you will choose a book, and for one of the class meetings, you'll be doing a short (please no more than 20 minutes) presentation setting up discussion and describing your own interests, ideas, and arguments about the readings. Note: you may wish to shape your presentation in part along the guidelines of the Presentation Write-up (see below), but are in now way required to do so.
The Presentation Write-up and Annotated Bibliography: Note: I will provide you with an example of this so that you understand the assignment. This is not a write up of your presentation literally. Instead, for your text I'd like you to research its 1) production history, 2) publication and reception history, and 3) critical history. Having researched these, I'd like you to decide which of the three interests you the most. Once you've made this decision, you can write up the assignment as follows:
- 1) For the least interesting two histories, I'd like you to write up a short narrative regarding each of them which can be anywhere from 10 to 500 words, followed by a bibliography. The length of these should depend entirely on how much there is to say. For example, for Mansfield Park and Emma, there are no manuscripts available, and only scant evidence from the letters about when they were written. So, for the production history there will be little to say. Yet both novels have very interesting reception/publication and critical histories.
- 2) For the most interesting of the three histories, however, I'd like you to write a more extended essay (approximately 4-6 pages), in which you make a case for why this particular aspect of the text is most interesting. What questions does it raise and why? What would answering these questions illuminate? What questions do you wish to ask, and what are you answers. Finally, instead of a bibliography, I would like you to provide an annotated bibliography of the section, consisting of no more than 10 entries, with each entry being no more than 200 words.
- 3) On the day you're doing your presentation, please bring enough copies of your presentation write-up so everyone can have a copy. If for some reason you have a crisis finishing it, please get it to us by the end of the week. You can just put the copies in my mailbox in 119 Bennett Hall.
An essay of 2000 words or more on anything you'd like that is connected with the course.