First Austen Reports (& Paper One):

Short reports on Austen's contexts: the literature, society, and politics of her youth

Select one of the unclaimed topics shown from the list below. As soon as a topic is taken, I'll enter the name of the student who claimed it next to it in this list. Present your topic in the form of a single sheet, double-sided illustrated report for your fellow-students.  Print 25 copies to distribute in class Friday, Sept. 7th.  The report should summarize the main names, terms, dates, sources, or other memorable facts of your topic. Be sure it includes a bibliographic note of at least one good print and one online source.(standard form of citation, see Chicago Manual of Style).  All reports will be evaluated and rated by the rest of the class.  Then you will be asked to present your topic in a two or three minute class presentation on Monday, Sept. 10th.  That presentation will also be evaluated and rated.

This assignment fulfills part of the FYS outcome #1: Access diverse information through focused research, active discussion, and collaboration with peers.

Popular Literature of Jane Austen's Youth:

The picaresque novel in English and other literary influences

English Visual Satire, 1750-1800, Gillray, Rowlandson, Combe.

Susanna Centlivre's The Wonder: a Woman Keeps a Secret (1714)

John Gay, The Beggar's Opera (1728) Natalie Ross

James Thomson's The Seasons (1730)

Henry Fielding's The Tragedy of Tragedies, or the Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great (1731)

Samuel Johnson's Rambler essays (1750-1752)

James Townley's High Life Below Stairs (1759)

Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield (1766)

George Robinson and The Lady's Magazine (1770-1772)

Isaac Bickerstaff's The Sultan, or A Peep into the Seraglio (1775)

Samuel Johnson's Lives of the English Poets (1779)

Hannah Cowley's The Belle's Stratagem (1780) and Which is the Man? (1783)

Gilbert White's Natural History of Selborne (1789) and English Nature Writing

James Austen's The Loiterer (1789-1790)

Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792).  And see Northanger Abbey (NCE) pp. 222-25

Jane West's A Gossip's Story (1796)

Charlotte Smith, William Lisle Bowles, and the Sonnet Revival

Bishop Thomas Percy, F. J. Child, and the Ballad Revival

Maria Edgeworth

Fanny Burney, esp. Evelina (1778)

Early Reviews of Northanger Abbey (NCE) pp. 243-63.

 

Jane Austen's Juvenilia:

The Three Sisters: a Novel (1792) (OWC) pp. 55-67.

Catherine, or the Bower (1792) in Northanger Abbey (NCE) pp. 206-12, (OWC) pp. 186-229.

Frederic and Elfrida: a Novel () (OWC) pp. 3-10.

Jack and Alice: a Novel () (OWC) pp. 11-26.

Henry and Eliza: a Novel () (OWC) pp. 31-6.

Lesley Castle: an Unfinished Novel in Letters (1792) (OWC) pp. 107-33.

History of England and other Scraps (1791) And see Northanger Abbey (NCE) pp. 197-206; (OWC) pp. 134-44.

 

Social Conditions:  see the general articles as well

Meals and Food Shannon Fassler

Roads and Transportation Jenna Williams

Letters, Letter-writing, the Post, and Newspapers Kathryn Mayers

Abbey House School and Institutions of Primary Education and  the Education of Women Taylor Hansen

The Situation of Children in Middle Class England

Medicine, Illness, and Disease Adrian Seiloff

The English Country House

Money, Finance, and Banking in the 18th C.  Mary Margaret Petix

Circulating Libraries and the "Reading Public"

A Young Lady's "Coming Out" in 1788 Mady Danko

Jane Austen's Journeys and Residences

The Gothic Revival in Art and Architecture Kaitlin Mayo

The Grand Tour

Bath Society

Agriculture in Austen's England Dawson Kluesner

Polite Dress and Costume Peyton Fine

The English Country Church and Clergy Kathryn Davis

The Culture of Dissent: Unitarians, Deists, and other Nonconformists Samantha Whitley

English Universities and the Education of Women Rosa Virginia Melinda

Army and Navy Life Rodney Gardner

Ranks and Titles in Aristocracy, Church, and Military Kate Kinder

London Cultural Life during the Season Bailey Johnson

Printers, Booksellers, and Literary Journals Addi Iken

Eighteenth Century English Landscape and Gardening

 

Politics:

Edmund Burke and English Conservativism Katie Williams 

Stirrings of Reform in Westminster

Ministers and Parties in Parliament

Monarchy and its Cultural Significance Elizabeth Tharp

Abolition and the Slave Trade Jada Wilson

The British in the West Indies, 1750-1815

England during the Napoleonic Wars Ben Wassell