This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
Austen makes a particularly interesting subject for advanced study because her work is both widely enjoyed and the focus of much specialist academic work. The Austen of the (feminist) academy is often initially unrecognisable to the general (´feminine´) reader, and part of the project of this module is to explore the gap between these kinds of reading through the medium of material culture. ´Material Culture Studies´, focussing on the function and significance of physical objects in literary texts, has been increasingly important to scholars of the long eighteenth century in the last decade, and this approach raises questions that are especially pertinent to readings of Austen´s fiction. Is domesticity a trap or a refuge? Does the female body require liberation or control? Is material wealth the realisation of every woman´s dream or the basis of moral corruption? Is the 'improvement' of landscapes and estates a sign of culture or of arrogance? Approaching Austen´s writing through the objects which populate her fiction, we will situate these questions in relation to modern literary criticism and the unfamiliarity of early nineteenth-century artefacts.
Total Contact Hours: 20
Private Study Hours: 280
Total Study Hours: 300
Assignment (5,000 words) – 100%
Indicative reading list:
Jane Austen, (1811). Sense and Sensibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jane Austen, (1813). Pride and Prejudice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jane Austen, (1814). Mansfield Park. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jane Austen, (1816). Emma. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jane Austen, (1817). Northanger Abbey. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jane Austen, (1817). Persuasion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jane Austen, (1817). Sanditon.
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of material culture theory as it has developed in relation to literary study in recent years, with a particular emphasis upon the literary study of the long eighteenth century;
2 Apply debates in literary theory to the reading of Austen´s fiction;
3 Question relationships between materiality and fiction and develop their understanding that fictional objects are qualitatively different from, but related to, historical objects.
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1 Demonstrate the ability to argue a point of view with clarity and cogency in written form;
2 Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of advanced research skills relevant to the course;
3 Demonstrate their ability for independent critical thinking and judgement.
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