Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

Selwyn Community Education is based at Selwyn College, Kohimarama, Auckland.

Jane Austen is one of the best known and best loved English writers, and Pride and Prejudice is her most popular work. In this course, we try to understand Austen's literary genius and her enduring popularity. We discuss the novel and its screen adaptions, enjoying the vivid characters, the clever humour, the uplifting love story, and the deep influence of human nature it offers. We also consider its influence on modern chick lit and rom coms.

Participants in this course may want to consider attending Watching Sex and the City where we continue the discussion of romantic narratives.

Expected learning outcomes:
- Understanding Pride and Prejudice's critical and popular success
- Understanding of romantic fiction as a narrative form
- Understanding of key critical traditions relevant to romantic fiction
- Introduction to recent research into human psychology and cognition, and how it applies to our understanding of fiction
- Developing skills of textual analysis and critical thinking

Who should attend? Anyone who enjoys Austen's novels, especially Price and Prejudice and would like to better understand Austen's literary achievement and her popular appeal. You should read Pride and Prejudice before the start of the course.

About the tutor Ania Grant: I am a fan of Austen and an enthusiastic teacher. I have completed a PhD in English at the University of Auckland. My research focused on romantic narratives, from Jane Austen's novels, to modern chick lit. Over the last ten years I have been teaching English, Media and Communications at the University of Auckland and AUT.

Our mission is to provide quality affordable and accessible lifelong learning opportunities for our community.