Novels, Netflix & the British Empire

Nothing seems to hold our attention quite like Britain’s early-nineteenth century and the women who wrote about it. But why are so many of the stories most resonant with modern audiences love stories? How can we account for the tenacious staying power of the Regency romance? What is lost, and gained, in the reinterpretations (or reinventions) of these works, and what does it say about the legacy of Britain and its empire? These are some of the questions to be explored in this course, which will engage with the original texts and put those texts in conversation with recent adaptations.