Dr Yih-Dau Wu
ydw20@nccu.edu.tw
Office: Research Building 717
Telephone: (02)2939-3091#88103
Jane Austen
Course description:
This course examines the novels of Jane Austen (1775-1817) in relation to their historical
moments. Three related questions provide the foundation on which this course is structured:
How do her novels comment on and respond to the contemporary literary / political / cultural
currents of which they were a significant part? How does Austen weave feeling into the
texture of her narrative prose? What is Austen’s attitude towards a social world full of
expectations and obligations? To answer these questions adequately, we will read some
novels, poems, political treaties and didactic prose, with all of which Austen was familiar.
We will also read some critical essays to understand the shape of Austen scholarship in the
21st century.
Course objectives:
Students are trained in the skills of close reading. They will also learn how to use historical
sources and secondary criticism intelligently. The final goal is to produce a well-organised
and original research paper.
Requirements and regular in-class activities:
1. Students are expected to finish reading three of Austen’s novels (Sense and Sensibility;
Mansfield Park and Persuasion) during the winter break. These novels are widely available
either in print or on-line. The instructor nevertheless recommends scholarly editions of the
novels (Cambridge UP, Oxford UP, Broadview, Norton, Penguin, for instance).
2. Before coming to class, students are required to read assigned critical essays, raise relevant
discussion questions and send them to their peers.
3. Our class will regularly begin with student presentations on assigned materials. Discussion
and passage analysis will follow. Participate in in-class discussion vigorously.
4. To ensure a fruitful discussion on Tuesday, every Monday 4:10 pm, two students will have
an interview with the instructor. This is a chance for students to rehearse their Tuesday
presentation. The instructor will also have a chance to ascertain whether the discussion
questions and passages they have prepared are suitable.
5. At the end of the term, students are required to produce a research paper (18-20 pages
MLA style). We will have a mini-conference for you to share your work in progress with
your classmates and to receive some feedback from them.
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Grading policies:
Weekly contributions (including in-class discussion and interview with the instructor)40%
Final term paper 60%
Schedule:
N.B. SS = Sense and Sensibility; MP = Mansfield Park; P = Persuasion
Week 1 (24th
February)
Introduction:
Jane Austen in context
Kirkham, Margaret. ‘Jane Austen: Questions of Context.’
The Penguin History of Literature: The Romantic Period.
Ed. David B. Pirie.
Thompson, James. ‘Jane Austen.’ The Columbia History of
the British Novel. Ed. John Richetti.
Week 2 (3rd March) SS and the 18th-C sentimental novel
Mullan, John. ‘Sentimental Novels.’ The Cambridge
Companion to the Eighteenth-Century Novel. Ed. John
Richetti.
Tave, Stuart. Some Words of Jane Austen
Benedict, Barbara. Framing feeling : sentiment and style in
English prose fiction, 1745-1800
th
SS and Romantic sentimental fiction
Week 3 (10
‘Sentimental fiction.’ The Cambridge Companion to Fiction
March)
in the Romantic Period. Ed. by Richard Maxwell and Katie
Trumpener.
Butler, Marilyn. Jane Austen and the War of Ideas
Nazar, Hina. Enlightened Sentiments: Judgment and
Autonomy in the Age of Sensibility.
th
Week 4 (17 March) SS and 18th-C moral philosophy
Gross, Gloria S. In a Fast Coach with a Pretty Woman: Jane
Austen and Samuel Johnson
Knox-Shaw, Peter. Jane Austen and the Enlightenment
th
Week 5 (24 March) SS and the social/sociable world
Morgan, Susan. In the Meantime: Character and Perception
in Jane Austen’s Fiction
Wiltshire, John. The Hidden Jane Austen
st
Women in MP (I)
Week 6 (31
Wiltshire, John. The Hidden Jane Austen
March)
Johnson, Claudia. Jane Austen: Women, Politics and the
Novel
th
Women in MP (II)
Week 7 ( 7 April)
Mooneyham, Laura. Romance, language, and education in
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Week 8 (14th April)
Week 9 (21th April)
Week 10 (28nd
April)
Week 11(5th May)
Week 12(12th May)
Week 13(19th May)
Week 14 (26th May)
Week 15 (2nd June)
Week 16 (9nd June)
Jane Austen’s novels
Tanner, Tony. Jane Austen
MP and the British empire
Assigned reading:
Stewart, Maaja A. Domestic Realities and Imperial Fictions:
Jane Austen’s Novels in Eighteenth-Century Contexts.
MP and the theatre
Assigned reading:
Gay, Penny. Jane Austen and the Theatre
Byrne, Paula. Jane Austen and the Theatre
Litvak, Joseph. Caught in the act : Theatricality in the
Nineteenth-century English Novel
MP and memory
Assigned reading:
Deresiewicz, William. Jane Austen and the Romantic Poets
Heydt-Stevenson, Jillian and Charlotte Sussman ed.
Recognizing the romantic novel : new histories of British
fiction 1780-1830
P and the politics of change
Assigned reading:
Duckworth, Alistair. The Improvement of the Estate
Tanner, Tony. Jane Austen
Feeling in P
Assigned reading:
Pinch, Adela. Strange Fits of Passion: Epistemology of
Emotion, Hume to Austen
Heydt-Stevenson, Jill. Austen’s Unbecoming Conjunctions
School holiday
Women in P
Assigned reading:
Johnson, Claudia. Jane Austen: Women, Politics and the
Novel
Wiltshire, John. The Hidden Jane Austen
P and Romantic poetry
Assigned reading:
Heydt-Stevenson, Jillian and Charlotte Sussman ed.
Recognizing the romantic novel : new histories of British
fiction 1780-1830
Deresiewicz, William. Jane Austen and the Romantic Poets
P and British Nationalism
Assigned reading:
Frey, Anne. British State Romanticism.
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Week 17 (16th June)
Week 18 (23rd June)
Sales, Roger. Jane Austen and Representations of Regency
England.
Mini-conference: present your term paper and respond
to the works of your classmates
Term paper due
Bibliography
Deresiewicz, William. Jane Austen and the Romantic Poets. New York: Columbia UP, 2004.
Frey, Anne. British State Romanticism. Stanford: Stanford UP, 2010.
Gay, Penny. Jane Austen and the Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002.
Heydt-Stevenson, Jill. Austen’s Unbecoming Conjunctions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2005.
Johnson, Claudia. Jane Austen: Women, Politics and the Novel. Chicago: the U of Chicago P,
1988.
Morgan, Susan. In the Meantime: Character and Perception in Jane Austen’s Fiction.
Chicago: the U of Chicago P, 1980.
Nazar, Hina. Enlightened Sentiments : Judgment and Autonomy in the Age of Sensibility.
New York : Fordham University Press, 2012.
Raff, Sarah. Jane Austen’s Erotic Advice. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2014.
Stewart, Maaja A. Domestic Realities and Imperial Fictions: Jane Austen’s Novels in
Eighteenth-Century Contexts. Athens and London: the U of Georgia Press, 1993.
Todd, Janet ed. Jane Austen in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005.
Waldron, Mary. Jane Austen and the Fiction of Her Time. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999.
Wiltshire, John. The Hidden Jane Austen. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2014.
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