缅北禁地

Students in Professor of English Robin Colby鈥檚 ENG 321 course, The Novels of Jane Austen, have a special reason to study the work of this famous author this semester: December 16, 2025, marks Austen鈥檚 250th birthday.

Colby says the course, which is offered regularly, fills up every time, even when its offering doesn鈥檛 coincide with a significant milestone. She believes Austen鈥檚 iconic characters are the main draw.

鈥淪tudents love reading about strong female characters who break out of confining roles and stereotypes, speak their minds, and hold out for what they want,鈥� Colby says. 鈥淲hether they are reading about innocent Catherine Morland, spunky Elizabeth Bennet, privileged Emma Woodhouse, or undervalued Anne Elliot, students meet characters who remind them a little bit of themselves. Austen鈥檚 central characters make mistakes, learn, and grow.鈥�

While Austen鈥檚 upcoming milestone birthday has readers around the world celebrating her birthday, Colby says Austen and her work are 鈥渆njoying a real surge in popularity鈥� because of her skills as a writer.聽

鈥淪he鈥檚 especially skilled at drawing us into her world, a world that is foreign in some ways and completely familiar in others,鈥� Colby says. 鈥淪tudents are engaged by the details that Austen reveals about life in the Regency period鈥攅specially the social expectations around manners, dress, social events, and courtship. At the same time, they are gripped by the enduring themes that Austen explores: family relationships, friendship, loss, and love.鈥�

This semester, students prepared reports and presentations on a wide range of topics, from etiquette to card games to carriages, and they used presentations to express their own creativity.聽聽

鈥淥ne presenter came in full Regency costume,鈥� Colby says. 鈥淎nother special class activity involved learning a Scottish country dance called 鈥淢airi鈥檚 Wedding.鈥澛�

Colby says one of the most special parts of ENG 321 is that it 鈥渉as helped Jane Austen fans form a little community on our campus.鈥�

Meredith readers and fans 鈥渆njoy Austen鈥檚 abundant humor and wit, collect their favorite Austen quotations, and display Austen-themed laptop stickers. And, like all Janeites, students adore those iconic happy endings,鈥� she says.

The class has also resulted in accolades for Meredith students in the past. Several students have entered the Jane Austen Society of North America鈥檚 annual essay contest, and she expects several more will do so this year.

鈥淢eredith students have won in the past鈥攎ore than once!鈥� Colby says.