Advanced Course                                                                           Spring Semester – Sunday: 12:00-14:00

 

This course will examine the novels of Jane Austen. We will locate Austen's writing within the cultural and historical contexts of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and view her exploration of a society undergoing change and the place of women within it. We will also engage with the debate surrounding the political positioning and cultural awareness that appears within these novels.

 

Course assessment:

 

40%: midterm assignment

50%: final exam

10%: written response (short reflection) in the online course blog *

 

* The responses will relate to the assigned reading for a particular lesson and must be submitted before the class discussion of that specific assignment. Each response should be about 400-500 words and should reflect your own individual engagement with the text.

 

Texts:

 

Sense and Sensibility

Emma

Persuasion

The Watsons

 

The Watsons (a short, unfinished novel) will be available for download from the course moodle site. You are strongly encouraged to purchase the other novels from the Book Depository (www.bookdepository.com). The prices on this website are very reasonable and the site provides free shipping. Austen's novels are also widely available at bookshops throughout Israel.