Type of Credit: Elective
Credit(s)
Number of Students
This course invites students to examine closely three major novels of Jane Austen (1775-1817). We will learn about the historical, cultural, political and literary contexts in which Austen wrote and lived. We will examine how these contexts bear on her works and how her works responded to them. We will also read some critical essays to understand the shape of Austen scholarship in the 20th and 21st century.
能力項目說明
Students are trained in the skills of close reading. They will also learn how to use historical sources and secondary criticism intelligently. The final goal is to produce a well-organised and original research paper.
| 教學週次Course Week | 彈性補充教學週次Flexible Supplemental Instruction Week | 彈性補充教學類別Flexible Supplemental Instruction Type |
|---|---|---|
|
週次 |
課程內容與指定閱讀 |
教學活動與課前、 課後作業 |
學生學習投入時間 （含課堂教學時數） |
|
Week 1 (11th Sep ) |
Introduction |
After class: read Pride and Prejudice and the assigned essay |
|
|
Week 2 (18th Sep) |
Pride and Prejudice: historical background and textual analysis (Philosophy) |
After class: read Pride and Prejudice and the assigned essay |
3+ 9 hours |
|
Week 3 (25th Sep) |
Pride and Prejudice historical background and textual analysis (Estates) |
After class: read Pride and Prejudice and the assigned essay |
3+ 9 hours |
|
Week 4 (2nd Oct) |
Critical essay: Duckworth, ‘Pride and Prejudice: the Reconstitution of Society’ |
After class: read Pride and Prejudice and the assigned essay |
3+ 9 hours |
|
Week 5 (9th Oct) |
Critical essay: Johnson, ‘Pride and Prejudice and the Pursuit of Happiness’ |
After class: read Emma and the assigned essay |
|
|
Week 6 (16th Oct) |
Emma historical background and textual analysis (Psychology) |
After class: read Emma and the assigned essay |
3+ 9 hours |
|
Week 7 (23rd Oct) |
Emma historical background and textual analysis (Manners) |
After class: read Emma and the assigned essay |
3+ 9 hours |
|
Week 8 (30th Oct) |
Critical essay: Stewart, ‘The Fools in Austen’s Emma’ |
After class: read Emma and the assigned essay |
3+ 9 hours |
|
Week 9 (6th Nov) |
Critical essay: Waldron, ‘Men of Sense and Silly Wives: the Confusions of Mr Knightley’ |
After class: read Emma and the assigned essay |
3+ 9 hours |
|
Week 10 (13th Nov) |
Critical essay: Byrne, ‘Emma: The Obliged and the Obligated’ |
After class: read Persuasion and the assigned essay |
3+ 9 hours |
|
Week 11(20th Nov) |
Persuasion historical background and textual analysis (Gender) |
After class: read Persuasion and the assigned essay |
3+ 9 hours |
|
Week 12(27th Nov) |
Persuasion historical background and textual analysis (Sociability) |
After class: read Persuasion and the assigned essay |
3+ 9 hours |
|
Week 13(4th Dec) |
Critical essay: Mooneyham, ‘Loss and the Language of Restitution in Persuasion’ |
After class: read Persuasion and the assigned essay |
3+ 9 hours |
|
Week 14 (11th Dec) |
Critical essay: Steiner, ‘Persuasion: Developing an “Elasticity of Mind”’ |
After class: read Persuasion and the assigned essay |
3+ 9 hours |
|
Week 15 (18th Dec) |
Critical essay: Kramp, ‘Imagining malleable masculinity and radical nomadism in Persuasion’ |
After class: prepare for the mini-conference and start writing your term paper |
3+ 9 hours |
|
Week 16 (25th Dec) |
Mini-conference: present your term paper and respond to the works of your classmates |
After class: prepare for the mini-conference and start writing your term paper |
3+ 9 hours |
|
Week 17 (4th Jan) |
Self-study |
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Week 18 (11th Jan) |
Self-study; Term paper due |
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Requirements and regular in-class activities:
1. Please finish reading three of Austen’s novels (Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Persuasion) as soon as possible. These novels are widely available either in print or on-line. The lecturer nevertheless recommends scholarly editions of the novels (Cambridge UP, Oxford UP, Broadview, Norton, Penguin, for instance), because the explanatory notes therein may help students to understand these texts better.
2. Discussion in class is the major means through which we communicate ideas on a weekly basis. Please feel free to express you views and respond to those of others.
3. Students are required to do a presentation on an essay listed in the syllabus. In this presentation, please make sure you do the following 2 things:
(1) Tell your audience briefly what the chosen essay is about. (2~3 minutes)
(2) Identify one detail in this essay that interests you most and explain why (2~3 minutes)
4. At the end of the term, students are required to produce a research paper in the MLA style. By the end of the term, we will have a mini-conference for you to share your work in progress with your classmates and to receive some feedback from them.
N.B. Our weekly discussions will proceed on an assumption that you have finished reading both the assigned articles and the novels in question.
Grading policies:
Weekly contributions (including discussion, presentation and the mini-conference) 40%
Final term paper 60%