Jane Austen’s novels have long been praised for their perfection of form, and she has also been acclaimed as a moralist, not only by literary critics, but by professional philosophers. It is this aspect of her work which the course will seek to explore, showing that the comedy is often as serious and sharply edged as it is delightful, and demonstrating the full extent of her social and intellectual range.
The first class will briefly survey Jane Austen’s relation to the more important of her predecessors and contemporaries, notably Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, and Fanny Burney, showing how their interests and narrative methods raised certain technical problems which she had to solve. The second will consider her juvenile writings and letters, their relation to the novels, and what they tell us of her methods of composition; particular attention will be given to the epistolary Lady Susan.
At the centre of the course, however, will be the two novels which are each concerned with a contrasting pair of sisters, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. Classes will examine how in these books Jane Austen finds her distinctive technique and concerns, and how the second of these novels brings a new treatment and situation to themes introduced in its predecessor.
What our students say
"A beautifully shaped course, with great important lines never lost in their rich illustration."
