Austen Pastiche Assignment

Austen Pastiche/Transposition

Due Thursday, February 5. This assignment will give you an opportunity to work on pastiche and style, or on transposition and idiom.

Choose one of the following two options:

1. Pick a situation and a setting of your choice and write a pastiche of Jane Austen. Decide on your purpose beforehand (humorous, satirical, earnest) and make sure your tone is consistent throughout. I will be looking for recognizable elements of Austen’s style. For example, the skill of the “miniaturist,” free indirect discourse, wit, subtext, and/or irony. You may adopt vocabulary characteristic of Austen, and/or display stylistic quirks you’ve noticed in her syntax or use of punctuation. You will also want to replicate elements of the social world of Emma and reflect some of its thematic concerns. This pastiche need not be long – between a half page and a single page, typed and double spaced, will suffice – but I am looking for careful attention to detail, tone, and choice of words. If you choose the pastiche option, note that your setting and situation should not be typical of Austen, but it should be conveyed in an Austenian style.

Pastiche is a French word for a PARODY or LITERARY IMITATION. Although the intent is often humorous (ranging from witty satire to gentle, affectionate ribbing), the writer of pastiche sincerely imitates the style, technique, and themes of a recognized writer or work they wish to parody. (So there is an element of tribute or homage, as well as parody.)

2. Pick a particular passage from Emma and transpose it into a modern American context and a contemporary American idiom of your choice. One of your primary goals in writing a transposition will be to create a unified whole that makes sense; I am not asking simply for a passage from Emma translated into contemporary American English. I am looking for a believable transfer of style and theme from one place and period to another and for an authentic American idiom to accompany it. At the top of your paper, clearly identify the chapter and volume you draw your passage from. Your transposition should not exceed one double spaced page. Again, I am not looking for quantity, but for quality and attention to details.

You will have the opportunity to share your pastiche or transposition in class.