This interdisciplinary course will focus on five novels by Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion. Each novel will provide a starting point from which we'll explore the representation of broad themes of historical and literary significance relating to late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Britain. We shall examine the ways in which a knowledge of the period in which Austen wrote enriches our understanding of her fiction and how the novels in turn participate in certain crucial debates and developments of the period. Topics to be covered will include the representation within the novels of the following: the Navy, marriage and adultery, fashion and consumption, slavery and empire, the landed estate, Bath, the concept of 'improvement', the female reading public and its institutions, leisure, the Gothic, ideas of the family and domesticity, music, the theatre, female friendship, philanthropy and science. We will also examine the significance of the Austen 'craze' with reference to film and television versions of the novels as well as Austen's presence on the internet.

By satisfying the aims of this course students will acquire greater knowledge of Jane Austen's novels in their historical and contemporary context and skills in the critical analysis of her fiction.

Tutorial participation (10%), 1,500 word essay (40%) and 2,500 word essay (50%).

20 hours of lectures and 1 hour tutorial per week.

Any two English courses

ENHI2001 or HIST2006 Jane Austen in History.

Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (Oxford World's Classics)