ENGL 477:001

The Pleasures of Reading Jane Austen

Friday, 10:30 am – 1:15 pm

Robinson Hall A, Room 249

Professor Kristin F. Samuelian E-mail: ksamueli@gmu.edu

Office: Robinson Hall A, Room 407 B Hours: M 9:30-10:45 am;

Phone: (703) 993-2905 W 10:30-11:15 am

Course Description and Objectives:

Since the early nineteenth century, Jane Austen has enjoyed a dual reputation as both a popular and a “serious” author. Assessments of her popularity have remained fairly consistent, but what makes readers consider her fiction worthy of serious study has altered radically over the course of its almost 200-year career. From being recognized, for the first century and a half, for their gentility and quiet wit—their distance from the kind of political engagement that, according to one’s theoretical position, either enriches or diminishes literary texts—her novels have come to be seen more recently as deeply engaged works of fiction, reflecting—even intervening in—the compelling political questions of their day. In each case, what readers see as valuable in her novels is directly connected to what makes them “fun.” Either they are a delightful and civilized respite from the stress of daily life—a wickedly witty form of self-indulgence—or they offer a fascinating window into the complex social and political events and issues that preoccupied the early nineteenth century. The current fascination with Austen’s fiction on film arguably reflects and incorporates both of these ways of locating the author in literary and political/cultural history.

This course will take for its focus the relationship between pleasure and intellectual work that readers of Austen’s fiction often find themselves negotiating. By examining her major novels in their social, political, and biographical contexts; by looking at their reception histories; by exploring some later reworkings in a variety of media, and by reading historically informed criticism, we will attempt to understand our own and others’ readerly pleasure in these texts. Our goal will be to unpack what precisely is meant, at different times and to different readers, by the pleasures of reading Jane Austen—to begin to understand the peculiar mixture of accessibility and “quality” (the last assessment incorporating both theoretically informed critical considerations and reverence) that has characterized these texts for the nearly 200 years of their history.

Texts:

Austen, Northanger Abbey (Broadview, 1994, 2000)

Austen, Sense and Sensibility (Broadview, 2001)

Austen, Pride and Prejudice (Broadview, 2002)

Austen, Mansfield Park (Broadview, 2001, 2003)

Austen, Emma (Broadview, 2004)

Austen, Persuasion (Broadview, 1998)

A Xerox packet of shorter critical works will be available later in the semester.

Please use the editions in the bookstore, as many of the required supplementary readings are available only in these editions.

Recommended Biographical and Critical Readings

Le Faye, Deirdre. Jane Austen’s Letters. New York: Oxford UP, 1997.

-----. Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels. New York: Abrams, 2002

Tomalin, Claire. Jane Austen: A Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.

Butler, Marilyn. Jane Austen and the War of Ideas. Oxford: Clarendon, 1975.

Poovey, Mary. The Proper Lady and the Woman Writer: Ideology as Style in the Works of Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, and Jane Austen. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1984.

Johnson, Claudia. Jane Austen: Women, Politics, and the Novel. Chicago: U of Chicago P,

1988.

Troost, Linda, and Sayre Greenfield, eds. Jane Austen in Hollywood. Lexington: U P of Kentucky, 2002.

Course Requirements

1. Two typed, formal essays. The first of these will be a short (five-page) close reading due in the fourth week of classes. The second will be a longer (7-10-page) researched critical essay, due at the end of the semester. All essays must be turned in on time, at the beginning of class on the day they are due. Late papers will not be accepted. Please do not turn in essays electronically or in my mailbox. They will be considered late.

GMU uses plusses and minuses for grading average to excellent work (A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, and C-). An A essay must have an original, clearly identifiable thesis, must be well organized with a clear introduction and conclusion, and must demonstrate both originality and superior writing ability: no errors, carefully constructed sentences and paragraphs, and smooth transitions between points.

PLAGIARISM WARNING: The use of anyone's material besides your own without proper documentation is a serious offense and will not be tolerated. Punishments can range anywhere from an F for the work to expulsion from the university. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, but, for the record: plagiarism includes borrowing (or buying) anywhere from a phrase to an entire essay from another source without giving credit, allowing a friend to write (or rewrite) some or all of your paper, even using an idea or key word that you learned from another source without documenting it. PLEASE (FOR YOUR OWN SAKE) DON'T UNDERESTIMATE MY ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE MATERIAL THAT'S NOT YOUR OWN.

2. Final, take-home examination, due during finals week (see syllabus for due date).

3. Contribution to Townhall online discussions of readings (guidelines follow).

4. Participation in classroom discussions, in-class writing exercises, workshops, etc. While you are not graded on attendance, it goes without saying that, if you're not in class, you can't participate. Furthermore, you are responsible for all material covered in class, whether you are there or not.

Percentages of Final Grade:

Essay #1 (five pages) 20%

Essay #2 (7-10 pages) 30%

Final exam 25%

Townhall discussions 10%

Participation 15%

Guidelines for Townhall Online Discussions

As part of your grade for this course you are responsible for posting one discussion question and two responses, on readings of your choice, to the Townhall server.

First, register for Townhall by going to http://townhall.gmu.edu. Be aware that you'll need to use your GMU account for Townhall. For complete instructions on how to register for and participate in Townhall, I refer you to Professor Virginia Montecino’s excellent guidelines at http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/townhall.htm.

Once you're registered and logged in, go to "Courses," then to "2006 Spring," and then to "ENGL 477 Samuelian." The discussions will be listed by novel titles. Click on the title for the discussion you want to enter. Then click on “Add Discussion,” and type in your entry. You will be identified by your email address in the upper left-hand corner, but you should also sign your name at the bottom of your entry, as there's often little correspondence between email addresses and names. Follow the exact same procedure for posting a discussion question or responding to a question already posted. Discussion questions must be posted by 5:00 pm on the Wednesday before each class. Responses can be posted up until the end of the semester.

In the week your discussion question is due, choose a short passage from that week's reading assignment, which you found particularly interesting or puzzling. It might be one that resonates with an earlier discussion or an earlier novel, one with a particular historical or social relevance you would like to explore further, or one that is illuminated or complicated by the assigned critical reading for that novel. Remember, however, to keep your passages current: when we are spending more than one week on a novel, don’t write on a passage from a section we’ve already covered.

1. Type the passage in full, with page or volume and chapter numbers for reference (follow MLA format for documenting quotes).
2. Underneath the quoted passage, type at least one question you have about it. This should be a question designed to generate discussion, not one with a simple, factual answer.
3. Underneath your question, type at least one paragraph, discussing the passage and outlining your ideas as to how to interpret it. This paragraph may take the form of an extended answer to your question(s) in #2, or it may explore the question(s) further. It may attempt a close reading of the passage, or a discussion of the passage’s relevance to critical material, or it may concentrate on the passage’s context. In any case, your paragraph should be designed to provoke discussion by eliciting responses, comments, or further questions from your classmates.

Please note that, although this assignment has several objectives, the primary one is to extend our discussion of a given text outside the classroom. It is the responsibility of everyone in the class to check the Townhall discussion folders at least 24 hours before meeting time, to read and respond to the entries. You are, in other words, expected to be familiar with the passages and the questions by the time we meet on Friday, as they will form a part of our classroom discussion. I recommend printing them up and bringing them with you to class so that you can have them for reference. Discussion folders will remain open throughout the semester, and you can post a response (not a discussion question) at any time. Ideally, these discussion folders, in addition to providing a new outlet for discussion—and one that may be more congenial to some than classroom discussion—will provide a resource for paper topics and a good way to prepare for the final examination. Responses can be as formal or informal as you like, the only stipulations being that you keep to the topic and avoid personal attacks or comments on the intelligence of a particular entry or commentator.

Schedule of Readings and Assignments

F 1/27 Introduction to course

F 2/3 Northanger Abbey; “Introduction”; Appendices A, B, C, D

F 2/10 Sense and Sensibility, vols. I-II

F 2/17 Sense and Sensibility, vol. III; “Introduction”; Appendices A, B, C, F; Poovey, “Ideological Contradictions and the Consolations of Form: Sense and Sensibility”

F 2/24 Pride and Prejudice, vols. I – II

Close reading essay due (five pages)

F 3/3 Pride and Prejudice, vol. III; “Introduction”; Appendices A-G; Butler, Jane Austen and the War of Ideas: “Pride and Prejudice”

F 3/10 Mansfield Park; vols. I – II

F 3/24 Mansfield Park, vol. III; “Introduction”; Appendices A, B, D, E, G; Poovey, “The True English Style: Mansfield Park“

F 3/31 No class meeting; view films of Sense and Sensibility (1995), Pride and Prejudice (1948, 1995, 2005)

F 4/7 Emma, vols. I – II

F 4/14 Emma, vol. III; “Introduction”; Appendices A-F; Johnson, “’Not at all what a man should be!’: Remaking English Manhood in Emma”

F 4/21 Persuasion; “Introduction”; Appendices ?; Tanner, “In Between: Persuasion”

Topic description due for final essay (one paragraph)

F 4/28 Discussion of films: Sense and Sensibility (1995), Pride and Prejudice (1948, 1995, 2005), Emma (1996), Clueless (1995), Persuasion (1996)

F 5/5 Rough draft of final essay due for in-class peer response

T 5/9 Final essay due (7 – 10 pages) 1:30 pm in RA407B

F 5/12 Final exam due 1:30 pm in RA407B

Films: Pride and Prejudice (1948), Pride and Prejudice (1995); Nixon, “Darcy in Action” (in Norton Pride and Prejudice)

Films: Sense and Sensibility (1995), Mansfield Park (1999); Kaplan, “Mass Marketing Jane Austen” (in Norton Sense and Sensibility)

Films: Emma (1996), Clueless (1995); Ferriss, “Emma Becomes Clueless” (in Norton Emma)

Film: Persuasion (1996)