Wendy Moffat EC 405
Spring 2005 1:30 M, W
Office: 310 EC
x1499; moffat@dickinson.edu
Hours: T 1:30-3:30; W 11:30-12:30 and by appt.
English 101: Jane
Austen in Her Time
Required Texts:
Jane Austen, Emma (Bedford
St. Martins)
Persuasion
(Norton)
Pride
and Prejudice (Norton)
Northanger
Abbey (Penguin)
Sense
and Sensibility (Norton)
Lawrence Stone, Family, Sex and
Marriage in England (Harper and Row)
Claire Tomalin, Jane Austen:
Her Life (Vintage)
Course objectives:
This course is a beginnerŐs view of how to read and understand Jane AustenŐs life and writing in the context of the world in which she lived. The course is designed to be a workshop in educating ourselves, as best we can from the vantage point of more than two hundred yearsŐ distance, on what we need to know to ŇreadÓ Jane AustenŐs time. Wherever possible we will demonstrate our understanding in practical ways, teaching each other what we have learned about eighteenth-century life.
We will also explore the assumptions and limits of such a
socio-historical approach. How are the novels themselves (their author, their
audience, their publication, their reception, their language, their forms,
their mores) shaped by cultural conditions? What questions does an historical approach
leave unresolved or unasked? Is it possible to have anachronistic assumptions
about a 19th Century novel? How does learning deeply about another
time and culture inform our own values?
Course Readings:
Jan 24 M Introduction
and Syllabus Review
Jan 26 W Love
& Freindship (BB); [letter
log]
Jan 31 M Tomalin,
ch. 1-6
Feb. 2 W History
of England (BB) ; [letter log]
Feb. 7 M Practical
Presentation: The Country dance
9 W Northanger
Abbey I; [letter log]
Feb. 14 M Northanger
Abbey II
16
W Northanger
Abbey, end PAPER # 1 DUE
21
M Sense
and Sensibility, I
23
W Practical Presentation: The Country
House and its Ecosystem ; [letter log]
Feb 28 M Sense
and Sensibility, II
Mar. 2
W Laurence
Stone, selections; [letter log]
7
M Sense
and Sensibility, end
9
W Gainsborough
and 18c Portraits
Spring Break
Mar 21 M Pride
and Prejudice, I
23
W Practical
Presentation Keyboard Music and Song;
[letter log]
Mar 28 M Pride
and Prejudice, II
30
W Pride
and Prejudice, end; [letter log]
Apr. 4 M Practical
Presentation: Costume PAPER #2
DUE
6
W No
class: Narrative Conference
11
M Persuasion,
I
13
W Persuasion,
II; [letter log]
18
M Persuasion,
end.
20
W Emma,
I; [letter log]
25
M Emma,
II
27
W Practical
Presentation: Tea and Sugar ; [letter log]
May 2 M Emma,
end
4
W Last
class: Evaluations
Final Exam: Tuesday, May 10,
2pm
Course Requirements:
Practical:
Letter Writing:
Each student will be expected to
write and mail a letter to a correspondent of choice on a set schedule. No
e-mail. Students must submit an accounting that the assignment is complete; of
course the contents of the letter shall remain private.
Group Presentation:
Groups of students will present a
practical presentation to illuminate some aspect of 18th-century
domestic life pertinent to our understanding of the novels. Times will be
staggered across the term. Emphasis should be on clarity and imagination in
these presentations. You must meet with me as a group as you plan your
presentation. Groups must supply documentary, textual, and visual materials,
with an annotated bibliography, to be linked to the class Blackboard website no
later than one week after the class presentation. Grades for this will be
uniform across the group.
Writing:
Two short papers (4-6 pages) and a
final exam. The papers will be on set topics; if you wish to devise your own
topic, you must meet with me during office hours at least two weeks before the
paperŐs due date.
Students must complete all written
and group assignments to pass the class. Grades will be cumulative, based on
the following proportions:
Participation: Blackboard
contributions, attendance, letter writing, quality of participation in
discussion, preparation for all classes 10%
Group Presentation (group grade)
20%
Short papers 20% each
Final exam: 30%