Reading Austen

An immersive seminar on Austen's fiction, for graduate and upper-level undergraduates. Our emphasis will be, as much as possible, on carefully reading the major novels and reflecting on the reading experience itself. We will also look at flashpoints in Austen criticism, including selections from three intensive, book-length studies by Claudia Johnson, Freya Johnston and D. A. Miller, as well as other critical essays. Here, too, a primary focus will be on the strategies of reading that are brought to bear in criticism. How is textual evidence deployed? How are particular passages selected and activated? How does criticism strive not merely to interpret but to recapitulate the experience of the novel?