The Age of Jane Austen

Catalog description

From Bridgerton (Netflix) to Sanditon (ITV), there has been a recent boom in Regency adaptations that practice "colorblind" or "color-conscious" casting while interrogating the period's gendered and racial dynamics. But how were race and gender, and their intersections, actually forged and navigated in the age of Austen? What can account for Austen's enduring appeal? Who were Austen's literary peers and influences? And who gets left out of Regency romance? This 300-level course will look at Regency-era literature in both a historical and a contemporary context. Through reading, viewing, and graded assignments including short essays and oral presentations, we will practice methods for analyzing the formal features of literary and visual texts, such as the structure of a novel, the rhythms of poetry, or the costuming of period drama. In doing so, we consider how do these texts respond to historical phenomena such as empire, the rights of women, and slavery and abolition, as well as how contemporary adaptations take up such questions. Examples of readings include Jonathan Swift's "The Lady's Dressing Room," Jane Austen's Mansfield Park and Emma, and Soniah Kamal's Unmarriagable. Prerequisites: 76-101 or 76-102 or ( 76-106 and 76-107 ) or ( 76-108 and 76-106 ) or ( 76-107 and 76-108 )