"At some point it is necessary to come to terms with what cannot be explained away. Jane Austen is conservative in a sense no longer current. Her morality is preconceived and inflexible. She is firm in identifying error, and less interested than other great novelists in that type of perception for which the novel is so peculiarly well adapted— the perception that thoroughly to understand a character is to forgive him. But if this is true, are we right to call her a great novelist at all? "(Marilyn Butler, Jane Austen and the War of Ideas, 1975)
Are Jane Austen's novel really as conservative, as "Tory" as some critics have said? And if so, how does that gel with the fact that adaptations of her novels are more popular than ever with audiences all over the English-speaking world?
Is Jane Austen our contemporary? And if so, what does that say about us?
We will focus on the novels Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Persuasion.
(Originally I listed Mansfield Park instead of P&P, because I don't want to keep harping on the one Austen novel most of you (I hope) wiill have read already. But now that the winter semester is approaching, I am having second thoughts. Maybe it's good to start with a novel we all know. -- If you have bought and/or read Mansfield Park, fret not; you will definitely get the chance to work on it, if you like.
Rhythmus | Tag | Uhrzeit | Format / Ort | Zeitraum |
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Modul | Veranstaltung | Leistungen | |
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23-ANG-AngPM2.1_a Profilmodul 2.1: British Studies | 2.1.3 Literature and Culture | Studienleistung
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Studieninformation |
- | benotete Prüfungsleistung | Studieninformation | |
23-ANG-AngPM2_a Profilmodul 2: British Studies | 2.3 Literature and Culture | Studienleistung
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Studieninformation |
- | benotete Prüfungsleistung | Studieninformation |
Die verbindlichen Modulbeschreibungen enthalten weitere Informationen, auch zu den "Leistungen" und ihren Anforderungen. Sind mehrere "Leistungsformen" möglich, entscheiden die jeweiligen Lehrenden darüber.
This seminar will take place ONLINE: synchronously via zoom (i.e. Wed 12-14) and in the LernraumPlus.
You are expected to contribute to the class debate in class discussions and in written pieces of homework.
You are expected to read all the set texts in unabridged annotated editions, in the English original. (Anyone caught reading a crappy internet version and/or a German translation will be expelled from the class. This is non-negotiable.)
Zu dieser Veranstaltung existiert ein Lernraum im E-Learning System. Lehrende können dort Materialien zu dieser Lehrveranstaltung bereitstellen: