Summer Quarter, 2016
Thursdays, 12:45 - 2:45 p.m., June 30 – August 4
B. Jane Eyre and Jane’s Heirs: the Life and Afterlife of a Victorian Icon Mary E. Finn, Distinguished Senior Lecturer, Department of English
Thursdays, 12:45 - 2:45 p.m., June 30 – August 4 Norris University Center
Charlotte Bronte loathed Jane Austen for her lack of passion; Charlotte Bronte, in turn, was deemed coarse and vulgar by some contemporary critics. In six sessions, we will trace the trajectory of Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre, from the time of its publication to the present, when it is still an iconic text. But we will begin with Austen’s Northanger Abbey, to study Austen’s send-up of the Gothic novel genre before moving to the more serious appropriation of that genre in Jane Eyre (and maybe to irritate Bronte just a little on behalf of Austen!). We will then spend two weeks on Jane Eyre , the novel, its reception, and its literary fate in the 20th century.
In week four, I will talk about literary appropriations, in particular Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. The ground-breaking critical text, Madwoman in the Attic by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar will be the focus of week five. In week six, we will look at Jane Eyre through the lens of popular culture, and draw some conclusions about Jane Eyre and its eponymous character Jane Eyre in the 21st century.