Book Blog Backlog Logbook #4: The Novels of Jane Austen in Context
Also known as EN4361, Honours module at the University of St Andrews.
A Sicilian Romance - Ann Radcliffe
Possibly the funniest thing I've ever read for a class, this novella by the mother of gothic fiction is not in any way supposed to be amusing. It's supposed to be packed full of suspense and horror and sublime landscapes, but the amount of imprisonment/escape/recapture cycles and astoundingly convenient coincidences just make it unintentionally hilarious. If you fancy a giggle at the expense of a great pioneer of the gothic romance novel, it's available free on Project Gutenberg.
Maria, or The Wrongs of Woman - Mary Wollstonecraft / Letters for Literary Ladies - Maria Edgeworth
Can you tell I had to study a fair amount of gothic fiction for this module? Because yes, I very much did. And now these are things that I've read. Moving on.
The works of Jane Austen (excluding Sanditon)
The reason I took this module was twofold: one, I needed to fulfill my Group C (Victorian and Romantic) requirement; and two, I had already read most of the reading list. Honestly, I don't have a lot to say about Austen. The module was interesting enough, but rereading her six novels back-to-back really did nothing to make me enjoy her more as an author, and by the end I was pretty glad to have them all out of the way. You should read her, of course. She's incredibly witty and was pretty groundbreaking for her time. Northanger Abbey and Emma are my recommendations, and stay away from Mansfield Park (Fanny's a complete wet blanket).
More Jane Austen feelings can be found in this post, and you can read my review of Emma (pre-this module) here.
[I also took Renaissance Sexualities: Rhetoric and the Body 1580-1660 (EN4341) in third year, and although I really loved it...it's perhaps a little niche even for the ol' logbook.]











