First day class presentation, Austen and Adaptation class, SFUAD, Fall, 2017

1. What Do Others Say?
 “Jane Austen is the mother of all women’s commercial fiction, and when it comes to romance,
there are few plots that can’t be traced back to her original novels.” —Claudia Carroll’s latest
novel is ‘All She Ever Wished For 2016’
 “I love Austen because she touches on tolerance and forbearance with humour. It is ironic
that she, who was restricted to drawing rooms and occasional balls, and I, who have travelled
the world, both reach the same conclusion: namely that oddballs are everywhere and that a
good sense of humour goes a long way in dealing with them.”
 —Rose Servitova is the author of ‘The Longbourn Letters: The Correspondence between Mr
Collins & Mr Bennet’ and is the curator of Jane Austen 200 in Limerick, a series of
events celebrating the bicentenary
 “Austen observed in fine detail the manners of a particular class at a particular time – still in
many ways the primary task of the novelist. Observing the torturously complex social code
necessary to maintain patriarchal rule, she mostly found it extremely funny – which it still is.
Who can think about men and keep a straight face? Not me, and not Jane Austen.” —
Sally Rooney’s latest novel is ‘Conversations with Friends’

2. “I am a Jane Austenite, and therefore slightly imbecile about Jane Austen.” —E.M. Forster
Pride and Prejudice “set a bad example” to the 12-year-old Margaret Atwood, she has
scribbled, by exposing the young girl to “a hero who was unpleasant to the heroine, but
later turned out to be not only admirable and devotedly in love with her, but royally rich …
Were underage readers of this book, such as myself, doomed to a series of initially hopeful
liaisons in which unpleasant men turned out to be simply unpleasant?”
Atwood adds: “I especially liked the scene in which Elizabeth Bennett [sic] stands down
Lady de Bourgh. I longed to do the same to my gym teacher, but occasion never offered.”
—The Guardian, June 23, 2017
Anybody who has had the temerity to write about Jane Austen is aware of two facts: First,
that of all great writers she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness; second, that
there are 25 elderly gentlemen living in the neighborhood of London who resent any slight
upon her genius as if it were an insult offered to the chastity of their aunts. —Virginia
Woolf, Jan. 30, 1924

3. Jane Austen:
Works and
Adaptations
Jane Austen, 1775-1817

4. The Works, and their complicated history
SIX NOVELS
 Sense and Sensibility
 Pride and Prejudice
 Mansfield Park
 Emma
 Northanger Abbey
 Persuasion
 A word on editions
Juvenilia and Unpublished Work
 Lady Susan, epistolary short novel
 Sandition (incomplete and not actually titled)
 The Juvenilia, various Austen stories and
letters written when she was a teenager,
including “Love and Freindship” (sic) and The
History of England (a parody)
 The Watsons (unfinished)
 Various letters (some destroyed)

5. Austen’s Appeal
 Earlier in the 20th century, more regarded as a social critic, and a sardonic one at that
 Janeites versus Austenites: lovers of Austen as the creator of contemporary romance versus the
seemingly endless academic scholarship analyzing Austen’s work in various academic
frameworks: feminist, post-colonialist, economic, you name it.
 Either way, Austen continues to be mined for adaptations, mash-ups and homages…

7. We are not
watching this
movie

8. Or this one

9. This one on
the other
hand…

10. Yup, widely
considered one of
the best Austen
adaptations

11. Our Work This
Semester
 Reading five of the novels
 Watching some of the adaptations and
homages
 Exploring the Austen universe with class
presentations of the Austen universe
 Discussing the work at a close level and from
a larger view as writers and critical thinkers
 Testing our knowledge of what we’ve read
 Creating from either a creative-writing or
academic view a final paper and presentation

12. Reading:
Sense and
Sensibility, Pride
and Prejudice,
Mansfield Park,
Emma and
Persuasion

13. Talking
 Each week, I will present information and background on the books and other aspects of Austen.
We will also be watching some of the films and other materials created from her works.
 I also will assign weekly supplementary readings, some academic, some more mainstream
 You will keep track of the weekly assignments on the course website.
 You will be graded this semester for your class participation, which has specific requirements.

14. Participation
Requirements
 You are required to bring at least one
observation or question to each class,
along with [a] textual example[s]. Close
reading of the texts (which we will discuss)
is strongly encouraged. You will be graded
each class for your participation.

15. Class Presentations
 You will have two required presentations
this semester. As this class focuses on
Austen’s ubiquity in popular and literary
culture as well as the many approaches to
adaptation, your first presentation requires
you to research and present one example
of such an Austen adaptation or homage.
These presentations will occur in
conjunction with the reading of the novels;
sign-up dates will happen on the first day
of class. Sign-up is happening after this
presentation.

16. Reading Quizzes
 You will have two closed-book reading
quizzes this semester that will evaluate your
understanding and retention of the novels
that have been read prior to the quizzes, as
well as other materials read and discussed
in class. Dates are in the syllabus.

17. Final Paper
 Jane Austen was a fan of theater and
performance, and her work, as we will see this
semester, lends itself well to adaptations. For
your final paper, you have two options:
 Option No. 1: Write a five to 10-page
adaptation of one of Austen’s work. This can
be a play, screenplay, short story, epic poem
or other type of creative work. You can also
work in multi-media if you’d like.
 Option No. 2: Write an 8-10 page research
paper discussion one of the adaptations of
Austen’s novels, in MLA style, with at least five
secondary critical sources.