Introduction

Austen: Pride and Prejudice

In this course, Dr Katie Halsey (University of Stirling) explores Jane Austen's 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice. We begin by providing a broad introduction to the historical, literary, social and cultural context of the novel including the early reception of Austen's novel and the status of the novel as a genre in the early nineteenth century. In the second module, we think about the critical reception of Austen's novels from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, before moving on in the third module to explore the presentation of gender in the novel, focusing in particular on the position of gentry-class women in Georgian Britain and the various attitudes to marriage displayed in the novel. In the fourth module, we think about Austen's use of irony in the novel, before turning in the fifth module to explore Austen's use of narrative voice and the concept of 'free indirect discourse'.

Introduction

In this module, we provide a broad introduction to the novel, focusing in particular on the historical, literary and cultural context, the early reception of Austen's novels, and the status of the novel as a genre in the early nineteenth century.

Further reading:
– Jane Austen’s Letters, ed. Deirdre Le Faye (Oxford: OUP, 1995)
– David Gilson, A Bibliography of Jane Austen (Oxford: OUP, 1982), p.71
– Katie Halsey, Jane Austen and her Readers, 1786-1945 (London: Anthem Press, 2012)
– B.C. Southam, Jane Austen: The Critical Heritage, 2 vols (London: Routledge, 2001)
– Tony Tanner, Jane Austen (Cambridge Ma.: Harvard University Press, 1986)