Scribner Seminar Program
Course Description
Jane Austen, Inc.
Instructor(s): Catherine Golden, English
An interdisciplinary exploration of the life, work, and impact of Jane Austen. It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen’s early nineteenth-century novels have sparked a multi-million-dollar industry. If you recognize the allusion to Pride and Prejudice (1813) in this first sentence, this seminar is for you. Beginning with biography, we will explore Austen’s work in her cultural moment and our own. Reading her two most adapted novels—Pride and Prejudice and Emma (1816)—we will explore Austen’s use of irony, linguistic patterns, and carefully crafted plots and characters. We will turn our attention from Austen’s novels to nonwestern and western literary and film adaptations that have turned this canonical novelist into a consumer icon and a profitable literary brand. Coursework includes a cultural studies report, a PowerPoint presentation, a midterm, analytical papers on Austen’s novels and spin-offs, and a class exhibition on the Austen industry.
Course Offered: