ENGL 265 - Selected Author

Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)

Study of the work of a single author. The work may be read in relation to literary predecessors and descendants as well as in relation to the history of the writer’s critical and popular reception. This course alternates from year to year with ENGL 365.

Topic for 2013/14a: The Works of Jane Austen. This seminar studies Jane Austen’s novels in depth. One of the most important of all English novelists, Austen pioneered techniques for the presentation of consciousness that changed conceptions of fictional character and brought the modern novel into being. In doing so she drew on and moved beyond the popular fiction of her time. We will consider Austen’s importance as a writer who is fully engaged with the social and cultural issues of her own time and who responded in subtle and complex ways to the new forces of social mobility, politics, the rising professional class, and the questions of women’s rights. We will read her work in chronological order, tracing the development of her style and thought from the cheeky comedy of her juvenilia to her last novel’s rich response to Romanticism, as well as her final unfinished work. In addition, we will examine the enduring popularity of Austen’s works today in film adaptations.

Topic for 2013/14b: Vladimir Nabokov. Ms. Yoon. Mr. Russell.

Prerequisite(s): open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors with one unit of 100-level work or by permission of the associate chair. Students applying for permission to elect 200-level work must present samples of their writing to the associate chair. Freshmen with AP credit may elect 200-level work after consultation with the department and with the permission of the instructor. First-year students who have completed ENGL 101 may elect 200-level work with permission of the instructor. Intermediate writing courses are not open to Freshmen.