Engaging the Age of Jane Austen
Public Humanities in Practice
by Bridget Draxler; Danielle Spratt
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Pub Date Jan 03 2019 | Archive Date Jan 03 2019
University of Iowa Press | University Of Iowa Press
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Description
Humanities scholars, in general, often have a difficult time explaining to others why their work matters, and eighteenth-century literary scholars are certainly no exception. To help remedy this problem, literary scholars Bridget Draxler and Danielle Spratt offer this collection of essays to defend the field’s relevance and demonstrate its ability to help us better understand current events, from the proliferation of media to ongoing social justice battles.
The result is a book that offers a range of approaches to engaging with undergraduates, non-professionals, and broader publics into an appreciation of eighteenth-century literature. Essays draw on innovative projects ranging from a Jane Austen reading group held at the public library to students working with an archive to digitize an overlooked writer’s novel.
Reminding us that the eighteenth century was an exhilarating age of lively political culture—marked by the rise of libraries and museums, the explosion of the press, and other platforms for public intellectual debates—Draxler and Spratt provide a book that will not only be useful to eighteenth-century scholars, but can also serve as a model for other periods as well. This book will appeal to librarians, archivists, museum directors, scholars, and others interested in digital humanities in the public life.
Contributors: Gabriela Almendarez, Jessica Bybee, Nora Chatchoomsai, Gillian Dow, Bridget Draxler, Joan Gillespie, Larisa Good, Elizabeth K. Goodhue, Susan Celia Greenfield, Liz Grumbach, Kellen Hinrichsen, Ellen Jarosz, Hannah Jorgenson, John C. Keller, Naz Keynejad, Stephen Kutay, Chuck Lewis, Nicole Linton, Devoney Looser, Whitney Mannies, Ai Miller, Tiffany Ouellette, Carol Parrish, Paul Schuytema, David Spadafora, Danielle Spratt, Anne McKee Stapleton, Jessica Stewart, Colleen Tripp, Susan Twomey, Nikki JD White, Amy Weldon
A Note From the Publisher
Danielle Spratt is associate professor of English and director of faculty engaged practices and service learning at California State University, Northridge. She lives in Los Angeles, California.
Advance Praise
“Engaging the Age of Jane Austen is a valuable compilation of case studies on how to combine the study of eighteenth-century texts with public engagement. Its conversational tone and wide array of topics and contributors will help readers take away tips on how to expand their pedagogy and research to include wider audiences—a must for any contemporary scholar.”—Amy Hildreth Chen, University of Iowa
“The work is important and timely, the scholarship is up to date and comprehensive, and the book has a good balance of theory, history, textual explication, and individual testimony about praxis that is truly engaging.”—Deborah Denenholz Morse, William & Mary College
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781609386146 |
| PRICE | $55.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 298 |
Links
Featured Reviews
Joseph S, Reviewer
Engaging the Age of Jane Austin is a book for Humanities scholar. What can and should someone with a humanities degree pursue in life. As a political science student, I learned what Noam Chomsky called the duty of intellectuals -- IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY of intellectuals to speak the truth and to expose lies. Plenty of work in that field. Humanities students have a challenging course to plot if they want to remain true to their field. Granted they do not build bridges, design computers, or lead in discoveries, but they do reflect society and culture.
Spratt, Draxler, and others look at ways to engage students in the spirit of the humanities. Teaching reading to adults, reproducing old texts into electronic format (think something like the Guttenburgpress.com) and making them available to the public, and social justice programs (something in line with Jane Austen's era). Liberal Arts, which Humanities fall under, are losing in public opinion and rather useless in today's world and economy. The public needs to be reminded that we are a result of the humanities. These are what shaped us as a society and a culture. It is our literature, history, diversity, journalism, art, and music that make us what we are. As our society narrows its views into two separate and defined camps, our vision needs to expand. Austen lived in exciting times: The American and French revolutions, the abolition of slavery, extended suffrage, industrialization. Reflected in her work are these events preserved for all. Spratt, Draxler, and other writers look to find ways to make humanities important to society again.
Librarian 431790
It was interesting even if I thought it was about Jane Austern and her age.
A good read for anyone interested in humanities.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC
Cristie U, Book Trade Professional
The author did a brilliant job of explaining the importance of a career as a literary scholar. I had never heard of this being a full time career, so this book was really interesting to me.
Kimberly O, Educator
Engaging the Age of Jane Austen: Public Humanities in Practice was an invigorating and exciting look at how deep connections can be made between 18th-century literature and the needs of students and the public today. The authors and contributors made an excellent argument for the importance of studying the humanities in general and literature in particular.
I am inspired by the innovative projects that the authors used in their classrooms to help their students make connections between the past and the present; make connections between ideas presented in canonical and non-canonical literature and ideas we wrestle with today; and finally giving them hands-on experience with bringing ideas to the public in a wide variety of ways.
I highly recommend this book to teachers and scholars who are looking to make their work relevant to public audiences, who want to build strong relationships with their community, and who want to better be able to answer questions about why the humanities and literature are vital.
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