LS 669 - Jane Austen's World: Marrying Literature and Philosophy

(3.00 cr.)

Students read three of Austen's most beloved novels (Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma), in the light of philosophical theories they illustrate. Is the virtuous heroine a stoic, keeping emotion under control? Is she a feminist, showing independence in a man's world? Or is she an illustration of Aristotle's "golden mean?" Is Austen a proto-Marxist critiquing bourgeois life, or a social conservative? Students read novels and philosophical excerpts, and watch Austen on film, as business and pleasure are combined.