Jr Sem: the Faerie Queene

Virginia Woolf remarked that she envied anyone who had Jane Austen to read for the first time. In this course, we will read Austen's work sequentially, beginning with the goofy, often viciously funny works she wrote while still a teenager, and then moving through the novels in the order of their composition, from Northanger Abbey through Persuasion. As we watch the richness of her artistry develop, we will consider her responses to the events and the literary and philosophical trends of her time. Finally, we will consider contemporary engagements with Austen's work in scholarship, print, and cinema. What do we see in Austen? What do we love? What troubles us? What do we reject? What do we change? What do our choices say about us?