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August 3, 2001

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Laura L. Runge 
Office: CPR 301C 
Phone: 813-974-9485 
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Multi-Media J. A.
Jane Austen Website for ENL 4303

From Hollywood to the world wide web, from detective fiction to the annual meeting of the Jane Austen Society, this nineteenth-century novelist is a popular contemporary fascination. Beginning with some biographical background and Austen's letters, this class will analyze five novels and four corresponding movies in effort to understand what is so appealing about Austen today. Is it her crisp, elegant language or her subtle ironic vision of polite society? Are her domestic plots of gossip, love and snobbery true miniatures of enduring human nature, or do we simply enjoy the way she renders a cad or vindicates her heroines? While we explore the themes and subjects that continue to relate to us, this class will also learn about the history of the novel and of the society which shaped the author and her works.
 
 
  • Required Texts and Films 
  • Electronic Media 
  • Schedule 
  • Assignments 
  • Selected Bibliography 
  • Related Sites 

    • ALSO SEE WEBSITES CREATED BY STUDENTS IN THIS CLASS FROM 1996:

    Paisley Mason: Niceties and Courtesies
    Description of manners customs and titles in nineteenth-century Britain, specifically related to Jane Austen, with links to various useful literary sites.

    Molli Gamelin: Going Postal with Jane Austen
    The purpose of this web site is both to show readers how letters were delivered to Austen's characters as well as reveal other points of interest on the postal system that so many Austen characters relied on.

    ENL 4303 Selected Authors: Jane Austen 
    Fall 2001 Time: TR 2-3:15pm Room: CPR 338 

    Required Texts

    (All novels must be read in full before the date of discussion; additional readings may be assigned from supplemental essays.) 

    Selected Letters 1796-1817, ed. R. W. Chapman, intro. by Marilyn Butler 
    Northanger Abbey, ed. Anne Henry Ehrenpreis 
    Sense and Sensibility; ed. Ros Ballaster, Viking Penguin 
    Pride and Prejudice, ed. Donald Gray (second edition) Norton 
    Emma; ed. Stephen Parrish (third edition) Norton 
    Persuasion; ed. Patricia Spacks, Norton 

    Required Films

    (All movies must be seen outside of classroom time; group showings will be scheduled but are not mandatory. Movies will be on reserve. They are also available at local video rentals.)
    Sense and Sensibility; screenplay Emma Thompson, Director Ang Lee (1995) 

    Pride and Prejudice; screenplay Andrew Davies, Director Simon Langton (BBC 1995) 

    Emma, screenplay and direction Douglas McGrath (1996) 

    Persuasion; screenplay Nick Dear, Director Roger Mitch (BBC 1995)

    Electronic Media

    Electronic Reserve: Various articles assigned throughout the semester can be downloaded from this site at the USF Library.

    For an general introduction to List-serv and Internet functions, see USF Academic Computing Home Page. 

    Class List-serve: enl6236@lists.cas.usf.edu. All members required to participate in electronic list, to submit weekly writings, post queries, answer and respond to others. Ideal for discussing group projects and passing along last minute information.

    To subscribe to the list-serv, send the following message to lyris@lists.cas.usf.edu:

    SUBSCRIBE enl6236 Firstname Lastname.

    Do not write a subject heading for this message. You will be automatically registered for the list, and will receive all postings in your mailbox.

    Alternatively, you can register for the list-serv by visiting the lyris homepage for enl6236 and follow the instructions. All the posts will be archived at this website, and so you will be able to read and download messages from wherever you can get access to my website.

    When sending a post to the list, mail it to enl6236@lists.cas.usf.edu.

    http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janeinfo.html
    Jane Austen Info Page: premier Jane Austen site; her annotated texts, bibliographic information, pictures, useful background information, history, maps, connections to relevant sites, including movie information; plus list archives for AUSTEN-L, an open, informal discussion list on Jane Austen. 

    Schedule

    NOTE: THE DATES AND ASSIGNMENTS HAVE TO BE UPDATED
    Day Date Class
    M Aug 24 Introduction
    W Aug 26 Biographical notice by Henry Austen in Persuasion, pp. 191-196; passages from the Austen-Leigh¹s and Park Honan in Pride and Prejudice, pp 256-262; brief biography and chronology of Austen¹s life from the Jane Austen Info Page
    M Aug 31 Selected Letters, pp. ix-xxvii; 1-105
    W Sep 2 Selected Letters, pp. 106-212 [Post 1]
    M Sep 7 LABOR DAY - No Class 
    Read "A New Style ..." by Whateley, in Persuasion, pp. 196-205 and "Austen's Characters" (1823) in Persuasion, pp. 206-208.
    W Sep 9 Northanger Abbey (Ehrenpreis) [Post 2]
    M Sep 14 Northanger Abbey  Cont'd
    W Sep 16 Northanger Abbey Cont'd [Post 3]
    M Sep 21 Sense and Sensibility (Ballaster)
    W Sep 23 S&S  [Post 4]
    M Sep 28 S&S 
    W Sep 30 S&S [Post 5]
    M Oct 5 S&S - movie; Menand's "What Jane Austen Doesn't Tell Us" Electronic Reserve (Presentation Group One) 
    W Oct 7 Pride and Prejudice (Gray) [Post 6]
    M Oct 12 Pride and Prejudice Cont'd
    W Oct 14 Pride and Prejudice Cont'd [Post 7]
    M Oct 19 Pride and Prejudice Cont'd
    W Oct 21 P&P - movie; Grunwald's "Jane Austen's Civil Society" Electronic Reserve  (Presentation Group Two) 
    M Oct 26 MIDTERM 
    W Oct 28 Emma (Parrish) [Post 8]
    M Nov 2 Emma (Parrish)
    W Nov 4 Emma  [Post 9] 
    M Nov 9 Emma [Paper -draft]
    W Nov 11 Veteran's Day - no class [Post 10]
    M Nov 16 Emma - movie; McGrath's "Raising Jane" and reviews, on Electronic Reserve  (Presentation Group Three)
    W Nov 18 Persuasion (Spacks) [Post 11]
    M Nov 23 Persuasion Cont'd
    W Nov 25 Persuasion Cont'd [Post 12]
    M Nov 30 Persuasion Cont'd
    W Dec 2 Persuasion - movie (Presentation Group Four) [Post 13]

    Graded Assignments

    Weekly Postings (13) 20% 
    Group Presentation 10% 
    Midterm 20% 
    Formal Paper - draft (5 pp.) 5% 
    Formal Paper - final (8-10 pp) 20% 
    Final exam 25% 

    Selected Bibliography

    (Recommendations are welcome. Please e-mail with suggestions or comments secondary resources.) 

    Biographies: 

  • Halperin, John. The Life of Jane Austen (John Hopkins UP, 1984). 
  • Nokes, David, Jane Austen: A Life (1997). 
  • Tomalin, Claire, Jane Austen:  A Life (1997) 
  • Honan, Park. Jane Austen, Her Life (Fawcett Columbine, 1987).
  • Cecil, David. A Portrait of Jane Austen (Hill & Wang, 1979). 
    • Also see Jane Austen Info Page for a brief biography and other background information. 

    Critical Studies: 

  • Tanner, Tony. Jane Austen (Harvard UP, 1986). 
  • Southam, B.C. Jane Austen: The Critical Heritage (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1968). 
  • Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaste, eds., Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen (Cambridge, 1997). 
  • Butler, Marilyn. Jane Austen and the War of Ideas (Oxford UP, 1975). 
  • Johnson, Claudia L. Jane Austen, Women, Politics and the Novel (U Chicago P, 1988). 
  • Kirkham, Margaret, Jane Austen, Feminism and Fiction (Athlone, 1983, 1997)

    • Miscellaneous: 

  • Poole, Daniel. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew (Simon & Schuster, 1993). 
    WARNING: While Poole's book is a fun read, it has numerous errors concerning literary works. Always double check your information!
  • Faye, Dierdre (ed.). Jane Austen's Letters (Oxford UP, 1995). 
  • Thompson, Emma. Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries (Newmarket Press, 1995). 
  • Birstwistle, Sue and Susie Conklin. The Making of Pride and Prejudice (Penguin BBC, 1995). 

    • Film Criticism: 

  • Beja, Morris. Film and Literature: An Introduction. 
  • Lapsley, Robert and Michael Westlake. Film Theory: An Introduction (Manchester UP, 1988). 
  • Mellencamp, Patricia. A Fine Romance -- Five Ages of Film Feminism (Temple UP, 1995). 
  • Menand, Louis. "What Jane Austen Doesn't Tell Us," NY Review of Books, Feb. 1, 1996. 

    • See also James Dawe's Jane Austen Page for more reviews of current J.A. films. 

    Related Sites

    Jane Austen Sites

    General Literature Reference

    Movie Sites

    • The Republic of Pemberley Your haven in a world programmed to misunderstand an obsession with all things Austen.  (Began as a support group for fans of the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice.)  A beautiful site with opportunities to interact with other Jane lovers.  
    • Emma Adaptation page: maintained by Kali Pappas and part of the Republic of Pemberley, this site provides information on the movie adaptation of Emma.
    • Sense and Sensibility -- Sony Site 
    • Cinema Sites 
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