Syllabus

[printable version]

University of Massachusetts, Boston

English 394:

Comparative Study of Two Authors: Austen and Brontë

Fall 2006 Syllabus

Professor Louise Penner

Office: W-6-88

Office Phone: 287-6724

Office Hours: W 2:30-3:30, W 2:30-3:30, Fri 3:30-4:30 and by appointment

Email: louise.penner@umb.edu

Course Description:

This course covers the lives and works of two of England’s most celebrated and widely taught authors, Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë. Despite publishing their works within the same half century, and representing in their work some similar concerns--such as the social position of “redundant” women, class conflict, and the effects of both the growing middle class and British imperial projects on domestic life--Austen and Brontë produced vastly different novels. Despite, or perhaps even because of their similarities and their aesthetic and political differences, Brontë expressed a dislike of Austen’s novels. In order to understand her dislike and in order to appreciate these authors’ individual contributions to literary history, we will read most of their fiction, including some of their juvenilia--the stories they produced as children. The class will be run as a seminar, with students doing research on literary, historical, and cultural contexts for the novels.

Required Texts:

Jane Austen,

              Sense and Sensibility (Broadview)

              Pride and Prejudice (Broadview)

              Mansfield Park (Broadview)

              Emma (Broadview)

              Persuasion (Broadview)

Charlotte Brontë,

              Jane Eyre (Broadview)

              Villette (Broadview)

              Shirley (Oxford)

Recommended Textx:

The Juvenilia of Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë (Penguin or e-reserve)

Course Packet of critical essays on e-reserve** The password for our course reserve materials is: “Jane”

Important details:

**You will need to have a library barcode to access the e-reserve materials

**You will need to have an active U Mass email account that you can access frequently

**I will be asking you to email and print copies of several assignments to distribute to all of the seminar participants.

Course requirements:

--Active seminar participation

--An Oral Presentation--details forthcoming

--Midterm Paper--details forthcoming

--One seminar final project--details forthcoming

--reading quizzes and informal short writing assignments

Evaluation:

Participation: 10%

Oral presentation: 15%

Midterm paper: 35%

Final Project: 40%

Quizzes and informal assignments: 10%

Disability Accomodation

Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 offer guidelines for curriculum modifications and adaptations for students with documented disabilities. Students may obtain adaptation recommendations from the Lillian Semper Ross Center (617-287-7430). They must present these recommendations to each professor by the end of the add/drop period.

Reading Schedule

WEEK 1: Regency Twilight

W 9/6: 

• Course Overview

•. Seminar participant introductions

F 9/8

•. Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Vol 1

WEEK 2

M 9/11

•. Sense and Sensibility, Vol 2

W 9/13: Add/Drop period ends

•. Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Vol. 3

F 9/15

• Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Vol. 1

WEEK 3:

M 9/18

• Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Vol. 2

WEEK 3 Continued:

W 9/20

• Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Vol. 3

F 9/22

• Austen, Mansfield Park, Vol. 1

WEEK 4:

M 9/25

• Austen, Mansfield Park, Vol. 1

W 9/27

• Austen, Mansfield Park, Vol 2

F 9/29

• Austen, Mansfield Park, Vol 2

WEEK 5

M 10/2

• Austen, Mansfield Park, Vol 3

W 10/4

• Austen, Emma, Vol. 1

F 10/6

• Austen, Emma, Vol. 1

WEEK 6

M 10/9

Columbus Day: no class

W 10/11

• Austen, Emma, Vol. 2

F 10/13

• Austen, Emma, Vol. 3

WEEK 7

M 10/16

•  Austen, Emma, Vol. 3

W 10/18

•  Austen, Persuasion, Vol. 1

F 10/20

•  Austen, Persuasion, Vol. 1

WEEK 8

M 10/23

•  Brontë, Jane Eyre, Vol. 1

W 10/25

•   Brontë, Jane Eyre, Vol. 1

F 10/27

•  Brontë, Jane Eyre, Vol 2

WEEK 9

M 10/30

•   Brontë Jane Eyre, Vol. 2

W 11/1

•  Brontë Jane Eyre, Vol. 3

F 11/3

•   Brontë Jane Eyre, Vol. 3

WEEK 10

M 11/6

•  Brontë Shirley, Vol 1

W 11/8  

•   Brontë Shirley, Vol 1

R 11/9 Course withdrawal and pass/fail deadlines

F 11/10

•   Brontë Shirley, Vol 2

WEEK 11

M 11/13

•   Brontë Shirley, Vol. 2

W 11/15

•  Bronte Shirley, Vol. 3

F 11/17

•   Brontë Shirley, Vol 3

WEEK 12

M 11/20

•  Bronte Shirley, Vol. 3

WEEK 12 Conitinued

W 11/22

•  Bronte Villette, Vol. 1

F 11/24 Thanksgiving recess

WEEK 13

M 11/27

•  Bronte, Villette, Vol. 2

W 11/29

•  Brontë Villette, Vol. 2

F 12/1

•  Brontë Villette, Vol 2

WEEK 14

M 12/4

•  Brontë Villette, Vol. 3

W 12/6

•  Brontë Villette, Vol. 3

F 12/8

•   Brontë Villette, Vol. 3

WEEK 15

M 12/12

•  Brontë Villette

W 12/14 Wrap up and Review