ENG 875 Seminar in Austen
In this course, we will read all of the literary writing of Jane Austen and engage with the wealth of literary critical and popular responses to it. We will consider the challenges and advantages of writing about an author whose work is so well-known that it frequently serves as a touchstone. We will also discuss the nuances of free indirect style, at which Austen excels. What did free indirect style look like before Austen, and how should it be understood with relation to the stream-of-consciousness narration that flourished later? How should we interpret the fluctuations of intimacy and irony this technique makes possible?