Introduction

About the lecture

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)

About the lecturer

Prof. Katie Halsey is Professor of English Studies at the University of Stirling. Her research interests lie mainly in the fields of eighteenth-century and Romantic-period literature and print culture, in particular Jane Austen and the history of reading, although she also works on Mary Russell Mitford and Margaret Oliphant. Her recent publications include (as co-editor) The History of Reading (2011) and Jane Austen and her Readers, 1786-1945 (2012).