Course Details in 2026/27 Session

Module Title	LH Jane Austen’s Fiction
School	Eng, Drama, & Creative Studies
Department	English Literature
Module Code	09 39772
Module Lead	Dr Liv Robinson/Dr Louise Curran
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-10 hours Seminar-20 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	This single-author module offers you the opportunity to explore Jane Austen's fiction in depth, and to consider it from a range of critical and historical perspectives. We will spend time on Austen's major published works (which may include Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Mansfield Park and Persuasion), and we will complement our reading of these by exploring her unfinished novels (which may include, for example The Watsons, Sanditon), unpublished juvenilia (which may include, for example Lady Susan, her teenage notebooks) and a selection of her letters. Austen was an extraordinarily powerful writer, manipulating narrative voices, plots and prose styles to great effect. Her popularity has not waned throughout the centuries since her death; furthermore, TV and cinema adaptations have continued to draw in enthusiastic new audiences. We may then, complement our close study of Austen's writing by considering one or more key adaptations, and using these to prompt our critical exploration of her texts.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Demonstrate detailed knowledge of some key works by Jane Austen; Assess and evaluate critical approaches to Austen's writing; Demonstrate an understanding of some of the contexts in which Austen was writing; Demonstrate sophisticated close reading skills and apply them to Austen's prose
Assessment
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: Assessment: 1 x 4000 word essay (100%). Students must write substantially on at least two texts by Jane Austen. Reassessment: 4,000-word essay (100%)
Other
Reading List