News

Fans across the globe celebrated Jane Austen’s 250th birthday today, and at UCLA, students in the upper-level Austen class are celebrating completing their final projects: writing their own one-scene adaptations of the author’s works.

UCLA lecturer Cailey Hall teaches her students to appreciate the beloved author through close comparisons between the originals — like Austen’s most popular novel, “Pride and Prejudice” — and fan-favorite updates, from period pieces like the 2005 film “Pride and Prejudice” with Keira Knightly and Matthew Macfadyen, to the enthusiastically queer 2022 update, “Fire Island.”

“If all an adaptation does is capture the romance of Austen’s novel, it’s missed the point,” Hall said.

While Austen’s six novels all include happily-ever-after marriages, her works are also known for their incisive class commentary, sharp social observations, hilarious wit and savage insults. “I want my students to appreciate what an incredible hater Austen is.”

Hall, a scholar of English literature, wrote her senior thesis on Austen fandom, and as a graduate student received a prestigious fellowship to study at Chawton House — neighboring the author’s final residence at Chawton Cottage, and now home to Austen exhibits. Hall has designed and taught multiple Austen courses, including “Austenland: Jane Austen’s Lives and Afterlives” and the current class, “Jane Austen: Then and Now.”

Mariana Souza, a senior English major in Hall’s class this quarter, explained how historical context and secondary sources provided in class helped Souza gain a richer understanding of an author she already loved, and confirmed for her that Austen was more than “just a novel writer.”

“She was a bold social commentator,” Souza said.

Through Hall’s class, “we not only get to learn about the novels alone, but also about Austen’s world,” Souza said. “Understanding her childhood, family history and place in society helps put many of her composition choices into context, making it easier to understand why each story is the way that it is.”

Read more.

Photo credit: Evert Augustus Duyckinck Portrait Gallery.