This SDG will explore the finest novels written by Jane Austen, those written during the Regency Period (1811-1817). After briefly exploring her debt to the feminist politics of Mary Wollstonecraft, we will read Emma, Mansfield Park and Persuasion in the order in which they were written. We will place them in the context of the impact of the Prince Regent on English politics, as well as in the context of the social and political debates of this period concerning slavery and the slave trade; the education, roles and legal standing of women; and the burgeoning culture of consumption. We will also discuss the best (or most controversial) film adaptations of these three novels.
Week 1 - The Prince Regent's impact on British society / selections from Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Week 2 - Austen, Emma, Vol. I
Week 2 - Austen, Emma, Vol. 2
Week 3 - Austen, Emma, Vol. 3
Week 4 - Emma (film), with Gwyneth Paltrow, dir. Douglas McGrath, 1996
Week 5 - Austen, Mansfield Park, Vol I
Week 6 - Austen, Mansfield Park, Vol. 2
Week 7 - Austen, Mansfield Park, Vol. 3
Week 8 - Mansfield Park (film), with Frances O'Connor, dir. Patricia Rozema, 1999
Week 10- Austen, Persuasion, chaps. 1-12
Week 11 - Austen, Persuasion, chaps. 13-24 (plus Original Ending)
Week 12 - Persuasion (film), with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds, dir. Roger Mitchell, 1995
Core books: Jane Austen, Emma, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion
Robert Morrison, The Regency Years - during which Jane Austen writes, Napoleon fights, Byron makes love, and Britain becomes Modern (Norton, 2019)