Sigma Tau Delta advisor Professor Steinberg began the meeting with a reference to an article she had recently read. The article stated that the American education system failed to teach one important lesson to teens: how to pick a suitable marriage partner. Professor Steinberg asked, is this one of the functions of teaching Pride and Prejudice?
Other topics of conversation included the original title of the novel (First Impressions), Austen's prose, and social norms in Austen's England, especially regarding marriage and the expansive age gap common in marriages at the time. The role of women in the novel was discussed at length, primarily the binary of the intelligent, composed female and the frivolous, rash female so common in Jane Austen novels.
One student questioned the recent phenomenon of infusing Austen's novels with monsters; does Pride and Prejudice and Zombies bring Austen's work to a wider audience, or is having the Bennett sisters protect a ball from a zombie attack sacrilegious?
If you weren't able to attend the meeting, sound off in the comment section!
Although Pride and Prejudice is supposed to be Austen's masterpiece, it is not the one I usually choose to teach; it is more popular than Emma, but not as "teachable." Pride and Prejudice was generally the first "by a woman author" text to be studied as a classic back when only works by men were thought worthy of study.
ReplyDeleteI love Pride and Prejudice! Ever since I first read it, I was enchanted by the time period - the dresses, the balls, the dancing; I would have loved to live in Jane Austen's world! But sometimes I look at her novel from a future teacher's perspective and think: What can I actually "teach" about this book? (As mentioned in the previous comment).
ReplyDeleteFor anyone interested in teaching/Young Adult literature, I was in the YA section of Barnes and Noble the other day when I stumbled upon Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Confused, I picked it up and flipped through it- it really was Wuthering Heights! The back covered directed me toward two other novels in the "series" - Romeo and Juliet and Pride and Prejudice. These books have been reprinted and geared toward a YA audience! While perusing B&N.com I found the Pride and Prejudice copy (Look here: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Pride-and-Prejudice/Jane-Austen/e/9780061964367/?itm=2&USRI=pride+and+prejudice+for+teens) and it explains that the Twilight series was actually based off of these three books (not sure how accurate this is because I have not read Twilight..yet). I thought this was extremely interesting because, while I am not too fond of zombies, I appreciate the attempt to engage teens in works like Jane Austen's so they do not become completely archaic or seemingly irrelevant to today's youth.