taking your next steps with Austen

ideas for what to do now that you've completed a 10-week close reading, plus a full list of resources to take you on a deeper journey with Jane Austen

Hello, my friends!

Welcome to the bonus post of our Pride & Prejudice reading group! I am so excited to be in this final week with you all. There’s the satisfaction of a job well done (we did it!), along with the joy of now having a close reading under our belts, so we can veer off into a million new directions and take our readings even deeper.

You see: when you complete a close reading, you’ve essentially done a bunch of homework. You’re setting yourself up for major insights. And you’ve equipped yourself with a thorough understanding — as well as a lot of riveting questions — that can guide you through some exciting next steps, should you want to take them.

You might:

• Decide you want to write an academic-style analysis of a key element, character, or plot happening in the novel

• Spend an afternoon at a favorite coffee shop to journal your thoughts and feelings after this experience

• Explore the many ways this novel has taught you something new, either about the art of reading closely or about your own habits of mind

• Invite your best friends or your mom or your cousins or your spouse to join you in your next close reading — maybe you’ll read the same novel again, or maybe you’ll pick something new to explore together

• Do something wildly artistic or creative, based on the inspiration you’ve gleaned from Austen (maybe you’ll paint a portrait or write a short story of your own or even go thrifting to find Regency-inspired outfits or table decor for a Pride & Prejudice movie watching party!)

Whatever you choose to do, make it your own. Look for fun ways to reflect your own hard work and dedication back to yourself — make a collage, draw a scene from the novel, craft your own thesis statement about why the novel matters (like Professor Korell’s incredible essay about consent from earlier this week!).

Doing scholarly explorations of your own

I think folks put too much pressure on themselves when it comes to learning how to write “academically.” Sure, it’s tough work and it takes years of training to get to a certain standard (the kind you’d need to write a dissertation, for example).

But it’s also a codified approach to validating your impulses, ideas, and noticings about a close reading. So don’t sell yourself short. (And you know what? A lot of academic essays out there are freaking amazing and deserve a wider readership than scholars!)