PROFESSOR CAROL SHLOSS

Office Hours: M 11:00-1:00; W 11:00-1:00 & by app’t
Office: Margaret Jacks Hall (building 460), 302
Meeting Place:
Meeting Time: M/W 1:15-3:05
Telephone: 723-2723
Email: cshloss@stanford.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION

In this course we will study Jane Austen’s novels in the context of their own time, genre and political concerns, and then we will turn our attention to their adaptation into film. In looking at this transformation, we will be asking some basic questions about the interrelatedness of the arts. Instead of thinking of the arts in terms of limits and restrictions, we will ask how we can recognize the distinctive characteristics of each form and then perceive when and how they become sites of dynamic exchange. In exploring the energies that can generate this artistic commerce, we will be watching ourselves watching, asking why Austen, who at one time was thought to be such a "limited" and parochial 18th century writer, has arroused such intense interest at the beginning of the 21st century. Topics will include Jane Austen and the politics of the 1790s; the authority of men and books; the novel of manners and the gothic; female modesty and issues of colonial power, and what it means for women, especially, to "enter into life." In all cases, we will be learning to recognize the distinctive vocabularies of narrative and the cinema. In addition to reading and viewing, students will have the opportunity to use storyboards and their knowledge of cinematography to identify the salient characteristics of fiction that they think should become parts of a film adaptation.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. One 10-12 page research paper examining some aspect of Austen’s writing and its cinematic adaptation. You may write about an adaptation that we have not discussed in class, or you may single out an issue that particularly interests you. For example, you can analyze Ang Lee’s distinctive style of directing in Sense and Sensibility or compare Colin Firth’s interpretation of Mr. Darcy to Laurence Oliver’s. You can choose to examine the reception of Jane Austen in Hollywood (and in America as a whole) or you can think about a theoretical issue involved in recreating 18th century texts in the 21st century. Almost any critical and interpretive question can be explored in this essay, so please think of an issue that is important to you personally.

2. In your section, you will be responsible for two 1 page position papers—one on an Austen novel and one on an Austen film. These will be xeroxed for your classmates and will provide the starting point for small group discussions.

3. For 3 films, you will be asked to create a 6-12 frame storyboard sequence; that is, you will be asked to make a blueprint for filming a scene as you imagine it. Each of these requirements will be explained in more detail in class.

REQUIRED READING

Northanger Abbey (Norton Critical Edition)
Sense & Sensibility
Pride & Prejudice
Mansfield Park
Emma
Persuasion

ADDITIONAL READING ABOUT FILM FROM

Timothy Corrigan, Film and Literature
Leo Braudy & Marshall Cohen, Film Theory & Criticism

IN CLASS VIEWING

Northanger Abbey BBC telefilm directed by Giles Foster (1987)
Sense & Sensibility BBC telefilm directed by Rodney Bennett (1990) (excerpts)
Sense & Sensibility Film directed by Ang Lee (1995)
Pride & Prejudice Film directed by Robert Leonard (1940)
Pride & Prejudice TV mini-series directed by Simon Langton (1996)
Mansfield Park BBC mini-series directed by David Giles (1990) (excerpts)
Mansfield Park Film directed by Patricia Rozema (1999)
Emma Film directed by Douglas McGrath (1996)
Emma BBC mini-series directed by Diarmuid Lawrence (1997) (excerpts)
Clueless Film directed by Amy Heckerling (1995)
Persuasion BBC Film directed by Roger Mitchell (1995)