Jane Austen: light and shade

This course explores the nature of Jane Austen's writing and the rituals and expectations of the society she wrote about. As well as discussing the themes and style of both novels, we will examine the darker corners of her light, bright, bustling worlds. Critics have long been suspicious of readings of Austen’s work which see her only as a writer of romantic ‘marriage plot’ stories and recent criticism has claimed her as a ‘radical’ commentator on the social and political context of her day.

Our week of study will focus on Jane Austen’s two earliest published novels, Sense and Sensibility (1811) and Pride and Prejudice (1813), both of which have had a powerful hold on the hearts and minds of readers. We will begin by placing the novels in the context of Austen’s life and times and think about the particular themes they address. We will analyse selected passages from the texts, taking time to identify notable aspects of Austen’s style, such as her use of ‘indirect discourse’ and irony, and to comment on the form and structure of her plots. In her Mansfield Park, Austen says ‘Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can…’. Are Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility simply novels of light and laughter or do they address more serious themes? Does Austen critique the society she depicts in the novels or does she support the status quo? And exactly how rich are you if you have £10,000 a year?