ABSTRACT JANE AUSTEN UNCENSORED: A CRITICAL AND PEDAGOGICAL STUDY OF AUSTEN’S LETTERS FOR THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM Amanda Smothers, Ph.D. Department of English Northern Illinois University, 2016 William Baker and Lara Crowley, Co-Directors A vast amount of literary critical and scholarly work on Jane Austen’s writing, including her juvenilia, has been published. However, insufficient attention has been paid to her extant letters and their significance. This dissertation redresses the imbalance and is the first extensive critical, scholarly discussion of Jane Austen’s correspondence and their pedagogical applications. In order to rectify the disparity, this dissertation examines Jane Austen’s surviving letters to determine how to contextualize them historically and biographically and in relation to her fiction for college composition and undergraduate literature courses. Background information on letter writing in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century provides context for Austen’s letter writing, comparing her content and style to common practices. This study also investigates the world of Austen’s letters, focusing on historical and biographical context, and scrutinizing the letters as a source of information about middle-class Regency England; Austen’s family and social circles; and the author herself, including her personality, attitudes toward current events, views on works of literature, and references to her writing and publication processes. Moreover, Austen’s letters would be beneficial as a theoretical pedagogical tool for teaching not only the novels but the world of her novels through an examination of her letters. Throughout my dissertation, previous work on teaching Austen and teaching with letters (both as a teaching tool and as a writing method) is incorporated, analyzed, and adapted. My own strategies for teaching Austen incorporate carefully selected excerpts and complete letters (as applicable), her published novels, and media representations and adaptations. The letters have immense value in the college composition classroom, and they help contextualize Austen’s novels with students in the undergraduate college literature classroom. Also addressed is how to incorporate media representations of the author and her fiction as multimodal teaching tools. Recent media adaptations emphasize Austen’s relevance for undergraduate college students and demonstrate why Austen’s works and life continue to be depicted in media. In the end, Austen’s fiction remains popular because of the universality of its themes and the kinship readers feel with its author, and students of both composition and literature would benefit from analyzing Austen’s letters in the college classroom. NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY DE KALB, ILLINOIS MAY 2016 JANE AUSTEN UNCENSORED: A CRITICAL AND PEDAGOGICAL STUDY OF AUSTEN’S LETTERS FOR THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM BY AMANDA SMOTHERS © 2016 Amanda Smothers A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH Co-Doctoral Directors: William Baker and Lara Crowley ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am extremely appreciative of the many people who contributed their time, expertise, and patience to this project. First, I would like to thank my dissertation director, William Baker, from whom I have learned so much over the course of not only this project but our many other collaborations throughout my graduate career. He helped me shaped this project and worked with me to develop other dissertation ideas after my initial plan became unfeasible. By sharing with me his expertise with Jane Austen and textual studies, Dr. Baker has provided me with further understanding of one of my favorite authors’ correspondence and literature, and that insight will continue to factor into my future research and teaching practices. I am also indebted to my dissertation director Lara Crowley, whose extensive and thoughtful feedback on all aspects of my project was critical to its successful development. I appreciate her willingness to become a dissertation director after Dr. Baker retired, and I know my dissertation would not be as strong without having received her guidance. Last but not least, I am indebted to John Knapp, who helped me discover, untangle, and apply the pedagogical ideas which would inform my theories and plans on teaching Austen’s correspondence and literature. Dr. Knapp offered me a great deal of advice on pedagogic concerns and pointed me toward myriad helpful resources to better inform my study. I am grateful to all of my aforesaid committee members, each of whom contributed their unique expertise and scrupulous care to broaden my understanding and knowledge and to make my dissertation stronger and more thorough. DEDICATION For Arlene, Diane, and Kevin Smothers TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF APPENDICES .............................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................1 Literature Review ..................................................................................................15 Methodology and Limitations ...............................................................................28 Organization ...........................................................................................................30 2. THE WORLD OF AUSTEN’S LETTERS: HISTORICAL CONTEXT .........................39 Introduction ...........................................................................................................39 Eighteenth-Century Letter-Writing ........................................................................42 The Letters: Historical Context .............................................................................51 Conclusion64 3. THE WORLD OF AUSTEN’S LETTERS: BIOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT ...................66 Introduction ...........................................................................................................66 Austen in Context: Criticism of the Letters ...........................................................68 The Letters: Biographical Context .........................................................................74 Conclusion ............................................................................................................92 4. THE WORLD OF AUSTEN’S LETTERS: READING AND WRITING ......................94 v Introduction ...........................................................................................................94 The Letters: Jane Austen and Reading ..................................................................95 The Letters: Jane Austen’s Writing ....................................................................121 Conclusion ..........................................................................................................139 5. EXPLORING THE LETTERS IN THE COMPOSITION CLASSROOM ...................141 Introduction .........................................................................................................141 Pedagogy .............................................................................................................144 First-Year Composition I ....................................................................................153 First-Year Composition II ...................................................................................169 Conclusion ..........................................................................................................191 6. EXPLORING THE LETTERS IN THE LITERATURE CLASSROOM ......................195 Introduction .........................................................................................................195 Undergraduate Lower-Level English Literature Courses ...................................201 Undergraduate Upper-Level English Literature Courses ...................................218 Conclusion ..........................................................................................................231 7. MEDIA AND THE LITERATURE CLASSROOM ......................................................234 Introduction .........................................................................................................234 Teaching the Novel: Pride and Prejudice ..........................................................239 Biographical Representations, or “Biopics” .......................................................245 Austen’s Novels and Film ...................................................................................256 Conclusion: Film and Beyond ............................................................................274 vi 8. CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................279 Synthesis .............................................................................................................279 Implications & Conclusions ................................................................................282 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................285 Primary Sources .........................................................................................................................285