230427 Jane Austen: Her Novels and Her Time (S) (SoSe 2015)

To answer the two most important questions first: NO, we will NOT watch the film adaptations of Austen's novels; and, YES, students will have to read ALL novels on the reading list (reading exercises will be part of the Studienleistung for this course), plus secondary sources on the historical context.

The works of Jane Austen, who is frequently regarded as the first 'modern' English woman novelist, have always found readers since their first publication at the beginning of the 19th century. In this seminar, we will analyse and interpret four of Austen's novels (and some additional texts) with a view to the contexts - cultural, ideological, social, economic, political - in which she wrote.

Bibliography

Please buy your own copies of
Sense and Sensibility (1811)
Pride and Prejudice (1813)
Emma (1816)
Persuation (1817)
Make sure to buy an annotated edition (e.g., from the Penguin World's Classics series). We will start discussing Sense and Sensitibility in the second week of the semester. Students are expected to have read at least that novel by the begining of April 2015.