Jane Austen's Regency Novels: Emma, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion

This SDG will explore the finest novels written by Jane Austen, those written during the Regency Period (1811-1817). After briefly exploring her debt to the feminist politics of Mary Wollstonecraft, we will read Emma, Mansfield Park and Persuasion in the order in which they were written. We will place them in the context of the impact of the Prince Regent on English politics, as well as in the context of the social and political debates of this period concerning slavery and the slave trade;  the education, roles and legal standing of women; and the burgeoning culture of consumption. We will also discuss the best (or most controversial) film adaptations of these three novels.