HUSL 6312 Pat Michaelson

Austen and Her Time JO 5.108

Fall 2005 tel 972-883-2767
W 7-9:45 pmichael@utdallas.edu
GR 4.208 hours Tues 2-3 & by appt.

Syllabus

Jane Austen is unusual among English authors in being both

beloved by a popular audience and respected by a scholarly one.
While “Janeites” gather for Regency costume balls and films based
on Austen’s novels are guaranteed an audience, these books are
far from escapist. Indeed, scholars increasingly emphasize the
degree to which Austen’s work engages the political and social
issues of her day.
In this course, we will treat Austen as a pioneer in the
development of the modern novel and as that odd creature, a witty
moralist. We will also consider Austen's treatment of the French
Revolution, of new economic models, of changing gender roles, and
of modern concepts of human psychology. Readings will include
most of Austen’s novels, selected other texts from her time, and
modern critical essays.

Starred works are available on reserve; please print them

out or xerox them to bring to class. Any edition of works by
other authors is fine, but please use the following editions of
the Austen novels:

Norton of PP, MP, E, P

Oxford of NA (includes LS)

Requirements:

1. Active preparation for and participation in seminar

discussions. Students are expected to read primary and
secondary works with equal attention and to bring their
ideas to the table. For the first 6 weeks or so,
students will hand in one-page "reaction papers" to the
day's reading.

2. Proposal for, draft, and revision of one 15-page paper.

The paper should be of the scope and kind of a
publishable article; it should present an original
argument that is situated in an ongoing scholarly
conversation.
Schedule:

Aug 24 Introduction
Pride and Prejudice, chapter 1

Unit 1: the problem of happiness

Aug 31 Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Rivals

Samuel Johnson, Rasselas
*J. Paul Hunter, "'The Young, the Ignorant, and the
Idle': Some Notes on Readers and the Beginnings of
the English Novel," in Anticipations of the
Enlightenment in England, France, and Germany, ed.
Alan Charles Kors and Paul J. Korshin (Phila: Univ of
Penn Press, 1987), pp. 259-82

Sept 7 Frances Burney, Evelina

Austen, Lady Susan
*Betty A. Schellenberg, "From Propensity to Profession:
Female Authorship and the Early Career of Frances
Burney," Eighteenth-Century Fiction 14 (2002), 345-70

Sept 14 Austen, Pride and Prejudice

*Margaret Anne Doody, "'A Good Memory is Unpardonable':
Self, Love, and the Irrational Irritation of Memory,"
Eighteenth-Century Fiction 14 (2001), 67-94
Essays in Norton by Duckworth, Butler, Johnson

Unit 2: Gothic fiction and the French Revolution

Sept 21 Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho,

Vols. 2-3
*Janet Todd, Sensibility: An Introduction (London:
Methuen, 1986), cptrs 1, 8

Sept 28 Austen, Northanger Abbey

*Hannah More, "Village Politics"
*Edmund Burke, from Reflections on the Revolution in
France
*Ronald Paulson, “Gothic Fiction and the French
Revolution,” ELH 48 (1981), 332-54
Unit 3: Roles for women

Oct 5 *More, Strictures on the Modern System of

Female Education (Intro, cptrs 1, 2, 7, 14, 20)
*Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of
Woman, prefatory material and cptrs 1-4
Elizabeth Inchbald, Lover's Vows (in Norton MP)

Paper proposals due

Oct 12 Discuss paper proposals

Oct 19 Austen, Mansfield Park

*Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism, from chapter 2
Essays in Norton by Trilling, Johnson

Oct 26 Austen, Emma

*Jill Heydt-Stevenson, "’Slipping into the Haha’: Bawdy
Humor and Body Politics in Jane Austen’s Novels,”
Nineteenth-Century Literature 55 (2000), 309-39
Essays in Norton by Butler, Poovey, Johnson

Nov 2 Seminar papers due

Discuss seminar papers in small groups

Nov 9 Discuss seminar papers in small groups

Unit 4: Austen and Romanticism

Nov 16 Wordsworth, The Prelude (1805 edition)

Coleridge, "Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
Essay on Romanticism TBA

Nov 23 Austen, Persuasion (and original ending)

or 30 Essays in Norton by Litz, Butler, Astell, Johnson

Revised papers due Nov 30