Shelly: Treatment

Paper Outline:

1. Introduction
1. Generally, Austen isn't linked to awe, even though she has Romantic tendencies. However, I think there are real ways that Austen uses the characteristics of awe in her novel (maybe satirically, maybe not).
2. My first post about awe in Austen
2. Gothic/Sublime
1. Northanger Abbey
1. "riposte to magic and mystery"
2. Literary analysis of primary text: Northanger Abbey 
3. Catherine's obsession with gothic architecture, scary stories, dark mysteries 
4. This is first and foremost a satire of gothic awe. How does this change the awe?
2. Cara's post on gothic awe
3. Surprise
1. "The Illusionist"
1. Subtopic: Spectacle
1. Austen as magician, compared to Wizard of Oz
2. Unfamiliar, unexpected appearances. The common place becoming the wonderful (realist as a magician)
3. Enchantment built into novel: achieved through combination of wonder and irony
2. "Aesthetics and Ethics of Surprise"
3. A genuine source of awe in Austen
4. Epiphany--moments caused by nature
1. "Looking at the Landscape in Jane Austen"
2. Austen uses Romantic ideal of Nature to create moments of epiphany
3. Pride and Prejudice
1. Epiphany at Pemberley after touring the grounds
4. Emma
1. Berry-picking party, Emma lashes out, realizes her love for Knightley, admires his property and grounds
5. Persuasion
1. Epiphany: long walk with everyone at the beginning
2. First meeting in Bath, rain forces Anne inside, Wentworth is able to find her. She fully realizes her feelings
6. Sense and Sensibility
1. Marianne almost dying outside in the rain leads to an epiphany
7. Are these epiphany moments genuine or satirical? Both?
5. Connections?
1. Satire contradicts awe, yet Austen uses both
1. Is her awe genuine or satirical?
2. Discussion of current state of Austen's work? (I might not actually include this at all)
1. What have her works become?
2. Has awe been lost or created?

Prospective Venue:

Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal

I am pretty sure this journal is my number one choice for a publishing venue. My paper will most likely look like a traditional scholarly article, and I think I actually have a small chance of being published here. As far as I can tell, it is the only journal completely dedicated to Jane Austen scholarship, and from my own research for this paper, they seem willing to publish a wide variety of papers. There is also an online version of this journal. It doesn't say anywhere on their website, but I think the online version publishes a lot more than the print journal. So, if they don't take my submission for their print journal, I can most likely get it published online. They only take submission up to 3500 words and I am a little bit worried about fitting my paper into such a small amount of space.

What's Next:

 I have a few solid sources referring to suprise, and one good source about nature. I really need to start digging into Austen's texts and finding quotes and passages which prove my points. And really I just need to start writing. I think I have a developed enough outline that drafting is totally possible. I've cut down the content of my paper a lot; now I am doing more of a literary analysis that focuses on the different ways Austen uses awe. I'm not sure if I will even try to pull in very much about popular culture and the distortion of Austen's works. That is the theme of my creative project, however, so do I need to address it in my paper? Is the narrower focus of my paper beneficial?