One of the classes I’m taking this semester is 18th Century Women’s Literature. The first novel we’re reading is Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. I am sad to say that this is the first Austen I will read.
Of course, I’ve seen some of the movie adaptations of her work. There is an article by Susan Mansfield on Scotsman.com, Austen’s art of persuasion, that asks the question of why Austen’s novels are so popular.
Mansfield quotes Ian Campbell, a professor at Edinburgh University, who points out that Austen was “a very acute social critic.” His comment makes me wonder if Austen would have been a blogger had the technology been available in her day.
Here’s a link to the syllabus and schedule. The other texts we’re reading are:
- dBarbauld, Anna Laetitia. Selected Poetry and Prose. (Broadview)
- Behn, Aphra. The Rover (2nd ed.) (Broadview)
- Burney, Frances. Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress. (Oxford UP)
- Edgeworth, Maria. Belinda. (Oxford UP)
- Felski, Rita. Literature After Feminism
- Haywood, Eliza. Fantomina and Other Works (Broadview)
- Radcliffe, Ann. A Sicilian Romance. (Oxford UP)
- Robinson, Mary. Selected Poems(Broadview)
- Scott, Sarah. Millenium Hall. (Broadview)
- Wollstonecraft, Mary. Mary, and The Wrongs of Woman. (Oxford UP)
Aside: One of the things that I’ve noticed about grad school is that professors typically make assignments prior to the first class meeting. When it happened last semester, it made me wonder if it was typical. This semester, it wasn’t as surprising. Yes, Dorothy, this ain’t Kansas and you’re not an undergrad any longer. :-)
—–