“My idea of good company,” says Anne Elliot in Jane Austen’s Persuasion, “is the company of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation.” To which her cousin replies, “That is not good company, that is the best.” I feel that I have emerged from the best of company as my Jane Austen […]
Tag Archives: Northanger Abbey
Ask Jane: Expert Relationship Advice
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Education, Emma, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, Relationships, Sense and Sensibility Comments closed
Regency Teens, Same Issues as Today
Seldom have I enjoyed a course more than my current first year seminar on Jane Austen—specifically “Jane Austen and the Challenges of Being a Regency Teenager.” The title of the course isn’t historically accurate since young men and women in the early 19th century didn’t think of themselves as teenagers. Adolescence wasn’t as prolonged as […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged adolescence, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, teaching Comments closed
Moving Beyond Adolescent Fantasies
Sometimes I will discover that two different works start talking to each other simply because I happen to be teaching them both at the same time. This week Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (from my Jane Austen first year seminar) and John Keats’ Eve of St. Agnes (from my British fantasy course) engaged in one of […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged adolescence, Eve of St. Agnes, fantasy, Jane Austen, John Keats Comments closed
Moving beyond Gothics to Reality
For a student who had spent her life hiding out in literature (see yesterday’s post), Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey struck a chord. Although it’s the most lightweight of Austen’s six great novels, Mary learned a lot about herself when she studied it. Northanger Abbey is a coming-of-age novel about young Catherine Morland. In a visit […]
Reading Austen to Handle Adversity
In recent posts I have been writing about how young people in the 18th century found moral guidance in Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, even though the novel was attacked for corrupting them. Over the next four posts I will tell an inspirational story about one of my students who found guidance in the novels of […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Adversity, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, reading, Sense and Sensibility Comments closed
The Rebellious Thrill of Gothics
Emily in the Castle of Udolpho In yesterday’s post I discussed anxious parents and proposed Northanger Abbey as a sane approach to teenage reading (and movie watching and internet using). I elaborate here. I start first with the reading material in question. Heroine Catherine Moreland and her best friend Isabella Thorpe are enthralled with the […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged adolescence, Anne Radcliffe, Italian, Jane Austen, Mysteries of Udolpho, Novel reading Comments closed
Mocking Adult Anxieties about Novels
“Before,” by William Hogarth (1736) What can happen to your daughters if they read novels? According to William Hogarth, something like the above. Check out the lower left hand corner where a side table is falling over. The drawer has been left casually but deliberately open so that one can see the book that is […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Before", adolescence, Child rearing, Jane Austen, Novel reading, Rambler #4, Richard Sheridan, Samuel Johnson, School for Scandal, William Hogarth Comments closed
