JANE AUSTEN AND SAMUEL JOHNSON

Catalog description

Jane Austen said that Samuel Johnson was her “favorite author in prose,” an assessment that invites one to ponder how Johnson influenced Austen’s novels. This course begins by focusing on Johnson as a humanist, his ideas about the office of a poet and novelist, and by studying his moral essays and character sketches found in the Rambler and Idler. Afterward, we turn to the novels of Austen, investigating how the two authors may comple ment or contradict each other. Cross-listed with LITR 415.