Final Exam: This Friday @ 9:00

REMEMBER that our final exam is this Friday @ 9:00 (it's scheduled for 8:00, but I thought it was nicer to push it back to 9 because of the ice and the ungodly hour!).  The study guide for the exam can be found in the post below.  DO NOT bring any books to the exam--it's a closed book exam.  It shouldn't be tricky, however--if you did the work and came to class (which not everyone did!) you will do fine. 

I also want to do my annual Brit I book raffle, where I give out free British-themed books to a few members of class.  It's a simple 'thank you' for taking the course and making it one of the most valuable teaching experiences I've had at ECU.  Honestly, I loved teaching this course and will miss it incredibly next semester.  I appreciate all the hard work and enthusiasm!

See you on Friday... 

Extra Credit Questions: 2007 Adaptation of Northanger Abbey

This film is an excellent adaptation (though taking certain liberties) of Austen’s early novel, which was written in 1798 along with the first versions of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility (then entitled First Impressions and Elinor and Marianne).  However, she revised the work in 1815 and changed it a bit, much as she did the other two works (which were more heavily revised).  That said, it represents an important transition from the world of wit and satire to the world of Romance and Gothic excess, which Austen parodies in Catherine Morland’s reading habits.  However, like Sense and Sensibility, Austen gives us satire from a woman’s point of view, and offers us unique insight into the “little” world of domestic concerns that few men could be bothered to take notice of. 

Answer TWO of the following…

1.         Though Austen doesn’t take us to the streets of London or the depths of Otranto, we do see the very real world of Bath, a notorious social center of the time.  How does Austen’s ‘tour’ of Bath offer a satire of the people, manners, and aims of high society as rich as anything in The Way of the World?  Be specific and cite an actual scene (or dialogue) from the film. 

2.         In the opening chapter of Northanger Abbey, Austen’s narrator admits that “[Catherine] never could learn or understand any thing before she was taught; and sometimes not even then, for she was often unattentive, and occasionally stupid.”  The film, too, shows Catherine as a somewhat unremarkable and not at all ‘wise’ at first.  Why do you think Austen creates such a untypical heroine?  How does this play into some of the themes of the book/film, as well as her taste in novels? 

3.         Why does General Tilney throw Catherine so unceremoniously out of his home?  What is her “crime”?  Why might his actions have seemed more ‘Gothic’ at the time than they do today?  What were the repercussions for Catherine, being sent home without a coach or a servant…and what fate might have awaited her once she got home? 

4.         How does the movie (like the book itself) seem to be a satire on novels in general?  What kind of novels does Catherine and her friends read, and why might reading, when done without sense/education, lead to trouble?  Additionally, how might this relate to our own times—to women (and men, perhaps) who read indiscriminately and view the world accordingly? 

Final Exam Study Guide

This is a relatively brief, but comprehensive exam covering all the works in class.  You may not bring your books to class or any notes.  The goal of the exam is simply to see how much you read and understood during our collective journey through the class.  Remember, a survey class like this one is designed to help you see how literature is informed by history and culture, and the relationship of one work to another as we move from the earliest ages of English literature to the late 18^th century.  For that reason, I want to see if you were able to make these connections and see the ‘family tree’ of British literature. 

The Exam will have 3 Parts:

PART I: Passages—a short passage from each work in class, which you will have to label by author, work, and the significance of the scene (in other words, what is happening here and why did I choose it?).  I will not give you the names of the authors or the books, so you should keep these in your memory.   

PART II: Art and Literature—I will have a painting on the screen which you will have to connect to a specific work and explain the connection between the two.  For example, what is each one doing, how do they relate to their specific moment in history, and how does the art help read the novel (or the reverse)? 

PART III: A ‘Big Picture’ Question—a question which asks how British literature fits into some aspect of modern culture, the modern high school/college curriculum, or simply into a study of human behavior/society in general.  You will be expected to draw from a few works in your answer. 

FINAL EXAM DATE: Friday, December 13^th @ 9:00

NOTE: All revisions of papers are due on this date as well.  Bring them to the exam at the latest, though I would prefer them even before this if possible.  You cannot turn in any revisions after the exam, nor can you revise a paper you didn’t turn in during the original due date. 

For Monday: Early Views & Modern Views of S & S

FORGOT TO POST!  You can turn this in any time this week...

For Monday: Early Views & Modern Views of Sense and Sensibility (pp.313-333)

·         Unsigned Review (Feb.1812)

·         Unsigned Review (May 1812)

·         Pollock, from British Novelists (1860)

·         Anonymous, from Miss Austen (1866)

·         Meynell, from The Classic Novelist (1894)

·         Farrer, from Jane Austen (1917)

·         Fergus, First Publication (1991)

Answer TWO of the following…

1. What qualities do both the 1812 reviews agree on in their first reading of Sense and Sensibility?  In general, how do both ‘read’ the novel, and do we generally agree with this assessment today?  Is there anything one or both miss or avoid that we discussed in class as an essential part of the work?  (Note that neither review knew Jane Austen’s identity—the title page originally said “By a Lady”). 

2. In the late Victorian era, when Jane Austen began to become famous, there was a notable shift in how she was read—and what she was appreciated for.  Alice Meynell typifies this when she writes that “Miss Austen’s art and her matter are made for one another.  Miss Austen’s art is not of the highest quality; it is of an admirable secondary quality” (321).  What qualities do Meynell—and others—find somewhat inferior or ‘second rate,’ and how might Austen’s own ‘sensibility’ be called into question as an author? 

3. Reginald Farrer writes that “But its tremendous successors set up a standard besides which ‘Sense and Sensibility’ is bound to appear grey and cool; nobody will choose this as his favourite Jane Austen, whereas each one of the others has its fanatics who prefer it above all the rest” (324).  How does Farrer make this claim in his article, and how might the other writers support the idea that S & S is somehow lacking or formative of the ‘real’ Austen?  Did her contemporaries feel the same way?

4. According to Jan Fergus’ essay, how did Austen feel about Sense and Sensibility and her writing in general?  Remember that, according to her nieces and nephews, she was ashamed of writing and kept all of it hidden (indeed, she scarcely even read poetry around them!).  What picture of Austen, the writer, emerges from this carefully constructed historical account of her publications? 

For Wednesday/Friday: Sense and Sensibility, Chs.V-XIV

Answer TWO of the following…

1. Clarie Tomalin, in her biography of Jane Austen, quotes a letter from Austen’s mother to her new daughter-in-law:  “I look forward to you as a real comfort to me in my old age, when Cassandra is gone into Shropshire & Jane—the Lord knows where!”  This suggests, perhaps, that her mother didn’t know what to make of her or what to do with her wayward daughter.  In general, Jane Austen had a rocky relationship with her mother and mothers don’t come off very well in her novels, much less in Sense and Sensibility.  Discuss the role of mothers in these final chapters, and how Austen defines the difference between a good and bad, or perhaps effective or ineffective, mother.  Note—think of all the mothers in the novel, not just Elinor and Marianne’s. 

2. One of the most interesting scenes in the novel is the reappearance of Willoughby and his conversation with Elinor on a “dark and stormy night.”  Though this may have turned into a Gothic event, Austen brings it somewhere else entirely.  What is the purpose of this scene to your reading of the novel?  Is it simply a way to “rescue” him from his Gothic devilry?  How does Elinor react to his speech, and how does it affect her feelings toward Marianne’s future relationship with Colonel Brandon? 

3. Elinor’s mother, reflecting on the match between Marianne and Colonel Brandon, notes that “the Colonel’s manners…their gentleness, their genuine attention to other people, and their manly, unstudied simplicity is much more accordant with her real disposition, than the liveliness—often artificial, and often ill-timed, of the other [Willoughby]” (240).  Do you agree with this assessment of the match between Marianne an Brandon?  Does Elinor?  Why do you think Brandon decided to marry her instead of Elinor?  How might Austen comment on this match in the novel’s closing pages?

4. Related to the above, how is Elinor and Edward’s ultimate match a satisfying or convenient one?  Is she settling for a man who, though he loved her, was unable to sacrifice his sense for his sensibility?  Or is he the man more “accordant” with Elinor’s beliefs and character?  Should she have married Brandon?  Does Austen want to frustrate our desires as readers, or is she seeking to satisfy the demands of her age?

For Monday: Sense and Sensibility, Chs.11-Ch.4 (Vol.3) & Paper #3

NOTE: For Monday, there are no questions--just read up to Ch.4 of Volume III of Sense and Sensibility.  An in-class writing will probably await you!  The Paper #3 assignment follows:

Paper #3: A Sense of Sensibility 

Choose ONE of the following options...

1. Discuss how contemporary audiences understood or tried to make sense of both Otranto and Sense and Sensibility.  How did the reviewers/critics represent the aesthetic values of the time, and how did each work fit into this?  Examine the reviews I gave you in class on Walpole and Sir Walter Scott’s Introduction, as well as the “Early Views” of Sense and Sensibility on pages 313-324.  Were these works very much of their time—or were the considerably ahead of their time?  In what ways?  Also, are there qualities and/or characters we admire that Austen and Walpole’s age was oblivious to? 

2. In the excerpt from Raymond Williams on “Sensibility,” he writes that “It is a very difficult word, both in its senses and variations within this historical period, and in its relations within the very complicated group of words centered on sense” (333).  Using his various definitions of sensibility, explain how both The Castle of Otranto and Sense and Sensibility explore and define this ambiguous term.  How does sensibility frame the plot, the characters, and the very philosophy of the work itself?  What makes them full of “sensibility,” and do the works complement or contradict each other? 

3. In Deborah Kaplan’s essay, “Mass Marketing Jane Austen,” she notes that “Neither of the recent films suggests that female friendships are sufficient to sustain an alternative emotional life for heroines without men...[but] The presentation of women’s relationships is more complex in Sense and Sensibility.  The filmmakers were concerned that the film not seem to be about “a couple of women waiting around for men”” (408-409).  Watch one of the versions of Sense and Sensibility, either the Ang Lee 1995 version, or the more recent 2007 Andrew Davies/BBC production.  Discuss how Sense and Sensibility is “marketed” to a modern audience.  What remains, what changes, and whose story do we ultimately get?   As you write this, discuss why you think these changes were made, and if sometimes, a change is necessary to preserve a “truth” of the novel.  (Please avoid merely giving a thumbs-up or thumbs-down movie review)

REQUIREMENTS

·        At least 4-5 pages, double spaced

·        At least 2-3 secondary sources; you must use an essay or essays from the Norton edition of Sense and Sensibility

·        A true conversation between you, the novels, and other sources; don’t simply have a monologue where you say what you liked and disliked about the books

·         Due MONDAY, DECEMBER 2^nd by 5pm (you can turn it in earlier if you want more time to revise it, of course)

For Wednesday: Austen's Sense and Sensibility, Chs.3-10 (pp.109-155)

Answer TWO of the following:

1. Sense and Sensibility was originally an epistolary novel entitled Elinor and Marianne, which Austen revised thoroughly to suit a more 19^th century taste in the early eighteen teens. However, these chapters contain several letters which were probably part of the original text.  What is the purpose of including letters between the characters, and how does it affect what we read, and how we see, this part of the story? 

2. In some ways, Sense and Sensibility is Austen’s most Gothic novel, as it contains secrets, scandals, and seduction unknown in her other works.  How do these Gothic elements (which may have been much stronger in the original version) cohere with the rest of the novel?  Do they seem out of place?  Or are they Austen’s attempt to hint at the darker world behind the facade of Enlightenment manners (remember Goya’s maxim: the sleep of reason produces monsters!). 

3. In William Deresiewicz’s book, A Jane Austen Education, he writes, “For Austen, before you can fall in love with someone else, you have to come to know yourself.  In other words, you have to grow up.  Love isn’t going to magically transform you, make you into a better or even a different person...it can only work with what you already are” (220). How does this apply to Marianne specifically?  In what ways does she not know herself, or expect to be transformed by love?  How does this account for her tremendous disappointment in London?

4. How does society respond to the Marianne/Willoughby affair?  Does the extended family (Lady Middleton, Miss Jennings, the Palmers) become more full of ‘feeling’ here, or do they remain a largely comic or satirical backdrop?  Is Marianne or Willoughby more censured for their behavior?  What does this say about the ‘way of the world’  in Austen’s day?