EN2J3/EN3J3 Austen in Theory
2022-23
Module Convenor: Dr Michael Meeuwis
This module pairs slow and sustained readings of Austen’s primary novels with extended readings in the culture of what we call “theory,” both eighteenth century and contemporary (mostly post-1995). Beginning with Marilyn Butler’s Jane Austen and the War of Ideas (1975), we will situate Austen’s novels securely within intellectual history. A particular focus will be how novels can be sources of freestanding ideas; and then, in turn, how freestanding ideas can give structure to plots and characters within the novel itself.
More information: full-year module, 30 CATS. Seminars meet once a week for 90 minutes.
Assessment:
Intermediate Year students:
100% assessed (2 x 3500-word essay)
Final Year students:
100% assessed (2 x 4000-word essays)
Essays that you develop yourselves as independent research projects.
Term one short essay prompts for Erasmus students
Term two short essay prompts for Erasmus students
Outline Syllabus:
Dear students: Please note that you will be responsible for bringing a legible version of these texts to class with you, and on something larger than a cell phone screen. I would also recommend buying your own copies of the Hume and Smith--these are dense books, which you will need to read slowly and carefully. Locke's Enquiry on a bookshelf will impress visitors to your home for years to come: I recommend the stern-looking Nidditch edition.
Mandatory Primary Texts, recommended editions:
Austen, Jane. Persuasion (OUP, 2004).
---. Mansfield Park (OUP, 2008)
---. Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon (OUP, 2008)
---. Pride and Prejudice (OUP, 2008)
---. Sense and Sensiblity (OUP, 2008)
Butler, Marilyn. Jane Austen and the War of Ideas (OUP, 1987).
Term One: Austen in Theory, 1790-1810
Term One: Austen and Eighteenth-century Philosophy
|
Week |
Primary Text |
Secondary Reading |
PowerPoint* |
|
1 |
Lady Susan (in Oxford Northanger Abbey collection, or online) |
Marilyn Butler, Jane Austen and the War of Ideas |
|
|
2: |
Northanger Abbey |
John Locke, "The Epistle to the Reader" and "Book I, Chapter II: No Innate Principles in the Mind" (from the Essay Concerning Human Understanding) |
T1W2 |
|
3: |
Northanger Abbey |
John Locke, "Book III, Chapter I" and "Book III, Chapter V" (from the Essay Concerning Human Understanding) |
|
|
4: |
Sense and Sensibility |
David Hume, "On the Origin of Ideas" (from the Enquiry) |
BONUS HUME! (guest lecture for EuroNovel) |
|
5: |
Sense and Sensibility |
||
|
7: |
Pride and Prejudice |
Adam Smith, from the Moral Sentiments |
|
|
8: |
Pride and Prejudice |
Smith, from the Moral Sentiments |
T1W8 |
|
9: |
Mansfield Park |
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, first half (or until it starts to get repetitious) |
|
|
10: |
Mansfield Park |
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1-74 |
Term Two: Austen in "Theory"
|
Week |
Primary |
Secondary Reading |
Powerpoint* |
|
1: |
Mansfield Park |
Postcolonialism: Edward Said, from Culture and Imperialism, particularly "Jane Austen and Empire" Recent readings in Austen and slavery: Tricia Matthew, "On Teaching, but Not Loving, Jane Austen"; Jasmin Malik Chua, "The Battle Over Jane Austen's Whiteness" |
|
|
2: |
Emma |
Kathleen Stewart, from Ordinary Affects |
T1 W2 Handout |
|
3: |
Emma |
Lauren Berlant, from Cruel Optimism |
|
|
4: |
Emma |
Structuralism and high deconstruction: Ferdinand de Saussure, "The Object of Study"; and Jaques Derrida, "Structure, Sign and Play in the Human Sciences" |
|
|
5: |
Persuasion |
T1W5 Handout | |
|
7: |
Persuasion |
Judith Butler, "Bodily Inscriptions, Performative Subversions" | T1W6 |
|
8: |
The Watsons |
||
|
9: |
Juvenilia (as much as you wish) |
Question: can we use the juvenilia to theorise Austen's major fictions? |
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|
10: |
Sanditon |
D.A. Miller, Jane Austen; or, the Secret of Style |
Handout |
*A note on PowerPoint: these are teaching aids, rather than in any sense a transcript or summary of the class session. Please use them for your review--but the class experience, summary videos, and interactions with the instructor in office hours are paramount.
Sample first paper, 2018/19: