Jane Austen novels such as "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility" are often associated with themes of romance and novelty. Common merchandise available online includes "Pride and Prejudice" paper doll sets, Austen Victorian-themed cookbooks and bumper stickers that read, "I'd Rather Be Reading Jane Austen."
But according to Joane Edmonds, associate dean of the Ball State University Honors College, Austen's novels also deal with weighty themes such as interaction between social classes.
Edmonds teaches the honors colloquium - Jane Austen: Her Novels, Her Readers, and Her Lasting Influence - and has been an Austen reader her entire life, but developed the idea for the colloquium after returning from a research leave to England to read the obscure 18th-century novels Austen read, she said.
Edmonds is most amused by Austen-themed beach towels, tea cozies and action figures, she said.
"It's funny to see how someone who reads Austen and appreciates [her] would write 'Jane Austen For Dummies' or 'Dating Mr. Darcy,'" Edmonds said. "The pop culture aspect of the course broadens our view and how we react to Austen."
She found students who shared her interest while teaching a course as part of the Honors humanities sequence who said they read Austen's books every year, she said. Edmonds has been teaching the colloquium as part of the Honors curriculum for two years.
"I wanted to explore the intersection of Austen, the major novelist and Austen, the industry," she said.
There are very few courses devoted to one author other than Shakespeare at Ball State, Edmonds said. It's unusual to have a single author course, she said.
Honors students are required to take at least two colloquia, each of which emphasizes discussion, individual projects and ways of combining information from several sources.
In addition to discussing Austen novels, students have watched an Indian "Bollywood" version of "Pride and Prejudice" and planned movie marathons for outside of class, senior English major Amanda Pollard said.
Pollard said like many students in the class, one of her favorite aspects of the course is a weekly tea time that corresponds with the topic.
The capstone of the colloquium is a creative project and an optional field study to England to experience "Austen's England," Edmonds said.
"I learn more from discussing Austen with students from interchange and class discussion than if reading it myself," she said.
Despite the nature of the course, however, Edmonds stresses the Austen colloquium is not limited only to English majors and finds the class to be more interesting that way, she said.
"It provides an opportunity for Austen novices to read more of her works if they're seriously interested," Hannah Weakley, sophomore theater and dance performance major, said.
Edmonds said she also wanted to dispel the stigma that all Austen novels are merely "chick lit."
"Pop culture has reduced [Austen's] work to the marriage plot," Edmonds said, "but that's just the surface level. We read Austen for the way the story is told. It easily amuses us."
However, no male students are currently enrolled in the course. Last year one male took the colloquium, Edmonds said.
"It'd be interesting to see how different the male perspective is and how they feel about the male characters in the works," Pollard said. "Given my major, I like talking with people from different majors to get their opinions about Austen."
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