This class will be the occasion for a close study of Austen's six finished novels, and some of the letters and fragments. We'll be most interested in Austen's astonishing verbal art, the shape of her novelistic career, and her participation (usually implicit, but nonetheless real) in the great social, political, and philosophic debates of her time. To make this context clear, we'll read a number of texts by Austen's contemporaries and writers who influenced her (especially other women novelists: Ann Radcliffe, Maria Edgeworth, Jane West), as well as some works that outline the issues dividing Austen's troubled time (by Mary Wollstonecraft, Robert Bage, and Hannah More). Some of these are out of print, so we'll have to read them in xeroxed form: copies will be available for sale from Ms. Kozash in the English Department office, Wright Hall 101.

The class will be a seminar: like the proverbial sewer, what you get out of it depends on what you put in. Be prepared for lots of reading (in criticism as well as our novels) and independent thought.

Requirements of the course: two class presentations and two papers (of about 8 and 12 pages).

Recommended background: English 200 and/or English 238.