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24059-01 - Proseminar: Jane Austen: Beyond Chick-Lit (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2010 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Regula Hohl Trillini (r.hohl@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | If we read the texts of Jane Austen (1775-1817) as ChickLit, i.e. stories written by women, with women protagonists and ending with marriage, she looks modern and 'relevant' but also rather forgettable. In fact, the course is NOT about turn-of-the-millennium romance from "Bridget Jones" to "Becoming Jane"; instead it focuses on Jane Austen's texts, from the outrageous and satirical first novel she wrote at fifteen to the two unfinished ones she left at her death at forty-one. The six books she completed will be read in the context of the literature Austen grew up with, ridiculed and learned from, the social rules and realities that determine her novels, and the critical reception which these novels have met with. Austen's nephew wrote in 1812: "She always sought, in the faults of others, something to forgive or forget"; in 1940 Lionel Trilling summed her work up as "Regulated Hatred" of social constraints. The development from a teenage scribbler into one of the supreme stylists in the English language that could evoke such diverse reactions with her seemingly straightforward courtship stories will be a central topic. |
| Learning objectives | Students deepen and expand their skills and prepare to write their first (shorter) seminar paper at the end of the summer term. They will become familiar with Jane Austen's six completed novels, with their social and literary backgrounds and with the history of their critical reception. |
| Bibliography | Participants need copies of Austen's six completed novels: "Northanger Abbey", "Sense and Sensibility", "Pride and Prejudice", "Emma", "Mansfield Park", "Persuasion". Any English edition is acceptable, except for "Northanger Abbey", which you should get in the "Norton Critical Edition" (copies ordered at "Labyrinth"). NOTE: "The Norton Critical Editions" of the other novels and the "Juvenilia" are not compulsory but highly recommended. |
| Weblink | EVA server |
| Admission requirements | Successful attendance of the first semester of a second-year proseminar in Literature and Culture Studies. By the beginning of the semester, you should have read at least the first four novels ("Northanger Abbey", "Sense and Sensibility", "Pride and Prejudice", "Emma"), preferably all six if you have a busy semester ahead of you. |
| Course application | Enrol by email to alex.van-lierde@unibas.ch indicating your 1st and 2nd choice proseminar. The first 18 to enrol are guaranteed a place in the course of their 1st choice; others may be shifted to one of the other three courses (24052, 24060, 20978). |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|
No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul Refining Skills in Literature and Culture (Bachelor's degree subject: Englisch) Modul Refining Skills in Literature and Culture for SLA teachers (Sek-I-Fach: Englisch) Modul Refining Skills in Literature and Culture for SLA teachers (Ausbildung zur Lehrperson für die Sekundarstufe I) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Regular attendance, active participation, chairing a meeting incl. an in-class presentation |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Englisches Seminar |