Knowing Friends and Enemies in Jane Austen
William Miller ()
Johns Hopkins University
Summer 2015
MWF, 1-3:30 PM, Room TBD
Knowing Friends and Enemies in Jane Austen
Jane Austen’s novels (and the Hollywood movies they have hatched) are often treated as forms of escape from our complicated world to a simpler, more rational time. Arguably, however, her novels originally served to help readers navigate scenes every bit as complex and dangerous as any we inhabit today. She was particularly sensitive to a deceptively sophisticated social problem: the difficulty of knowing potential friends from enemies. In this course, we will consider depictions of friendship and enmity in four of Austen’s major novels. Our goals will be to clarify (without simplifying) Austen’s sense of these terms, to explore the degree to which fictional representation might help readers to find friends and avoid enemies, and to pursue the question of the relevance of her fictions for modern times. With an eye to this last goal, we will compare these novels to four recent films inspired by her works.
Texts:
Northanger Abbey (Norton Critical Edition, ed. Susan Fraiman)
Sense and Sensibility (Norton Critical Edition, ed. Claudia Johnson)
Emma (Norton Critical Edition, 4th edition, ed. George Justice)
Persuasion (Norton Critical Edition, 2nd edition, ed. Patricia Meyer Spacks)
Films:
Northanger Abbey (2007, dir. Jon Jones)
Sense and Sensibility (1996, dir. Ang Lee)
Clueless (1995, dir. Amy Heckerling)
Becoming Jane (2007, dir. Julian Jarrold)
Texts available at the JHU Bookstore and online. It is important that you read the most recently published Norton Critical Edition of these texts for two reasons: first, so that we can all easily refer to passages during class discussion; second, because you will be assigned secondary critical writings out of these editions.
Assignments and Grading:
It is vital to the success of this course that all students complete the assigned reading for each session and arrive prepared to share well-developed ideas. Assignments are designed with this in mind.
Students will write short responses (300-500 words) in preparation for each session. These provide an opportunity to clarify a question or explore a thought related to the day’s reading. They will be graded on a three-point scale: 0 (did not turn in), 1 (turned in, but minimal effort), 2 (good effort). Late responses will not be accepted.
Students will also take weekly online reading quizzes through the course’s Blackboard page. You will have ten minutes to complete ten simple questions about the week’s reading. Questions will be designed to reward students who do the reading (no trick questions). They will, however, be carefully Google-proofed.
There will be two tests, a midterm and a final exam. Each test will cover two novels (i.e., they will be non-cumulative) and will consist of identification questions, responses to passages, and short essays.
In addition students will write a 5-7 page paper due July 3. Broadly speaking, this paper asks students to explore some aspect of Jane Austen’s style in relation to some broader social or critical issue. Prompts will be provided, but students will be encouraged to develop a unique paper idea in consultation with me.
Attendance is mandatory. Students will be docked one full grade (e.g. A- to B-) on the occasion of a third unexcused absence. Students who miss four classes will not pass the course.
The grading breakdown is as follows:
10% - participation
10% - response papers
10% - reading quizzes
20% - midterm
20% - final exam
30% - paper
Schedule (subject to adjustment):
Week 1
Day One
Introduction to the course; in-class reading from Lady Susan
Day Two
Northanger Abbey, chapters 1-18
Day Three
Northanger Abbey, chapters 19-31
Secondary reading, Claudia Johnson, “The Authority of Men and Books”
Week 2
Day One
Sense and Sensibility, chapters 1-12
Day Two
Sense and Sensibility, chapters 13-24
Day Three
Sense and Sensibility, chapters 25-36
Week 3
Day One
Sense and Sensibility, chapters 37-50
Secondary reading, Isobel Armstrong, “Taste: Gourmets and Ascetics”; Raymond Williams,
“Sensibility”
Day Two
MIDTERM EXAM
Day Three
Emma, chapters 1-12
Week 4
Day One
Emma, chapters 13-24
Day Two
Emma, chapters 25-36
Day Three
Emma, chapters 37-45
Secondary reading, D.W. Harding, “Regulated Hatred”; D.A. Miller, “Broken Art”; Mary
Poovey, “The True English Style”
Week 5
Day One
Persuasion, chapters 1-12
Day Two
Persuasion, chapters 13-24
Day Three
FINAL EXAM
Papers due: the Sunday after the final day of class, 5 PM, Turnitin.com andmy inbox ()