|
Summer Session One 2006 (May 15 - June 26)
(There are no graduate courses in Summer
Two this year.)
English 569: Jane Austen in Fiction and Film
Professor Howard Silverstein
Summer Session One 2006: Tue/Thu 3:00--5:15 pm
The novels of Jane Austen, with their themes of love and
marriage, the roles of men and women, and the challenges of
forging ones identity in a hierarchical society, have become
classics in the history of British literature.
A recent advertisement of Pride and Prejudice claims
that the novel has sold more than twenty million copies since
its publication in l813 and that it has never been out of
print. Hollywood discovered the novel in l940 with a critically
acclaimed film that boasted a screenplay by the British novelist
Aldous Huxley. With the advent of television, the novel was
reincarnated in many productions, the best of which was the
magnificent six-part BBC version in the early l990s.
It was Ang Lee's production of Sense and Sensibility
in l995 that caused movie makers to have another look at Jane
Austen. Writers and directors suddenly realized that it was
not only Pride and Prejudice that was a marketable
commodity, but that the quintessential Austen plots of love
and marriage in all her novels resonated with significance
for our own times. Within a few years, Austen became a top
box office celebrity: Emma, Mansfield Park,
and Persuasion all made their film debuts. In 2005,
Elizabeth and Darcy were once more on the screen in a British
revival of Pride and Prejudice, while an Indian company
produced a spin-off called Bride and Prejudice.
The required readings for the course are Sense and Sensibility,
Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion.
Each of the novels will be discussed from a literary point
of view as well as through a cinematic exploration. The initial
discussion of the novels will concentrate on Austen's themes,
narrative techniques, characters, and humor. The second part
of the discussion will extend to the film. The critical question
here will be how does each film interpret the novel? What
cinematic innovations are there, and do they add to the success
or failure of the movies?
Two critical papers are required as well as an oral presentation
on one of the films. Each student will be assigned a film
for his/her presentation.
ATTENTION: Sense and Sensibility must be read in its
entirety for the second class meeting
on May 18th.
|
