Societal Polyphony in Burney and Austen: Using Digital Tools to Invite Students into the Conversation

Abstract

How can we invite our students to experience the social wit and wisdom of the eighteenth-century novel, on an interactive level? Addressing challenges faced by those who teach eighteenth-century novels in General Education surveys or seminar classes, this essay offers two lesson plans--easily adapted for different texts and courses--that use digital technology to engage students' imaginations and cultivate skills of reading comprehension and interpretation. The first, "Evelina Tweet Fest," invites students to participate in a collaborative conversation on a simulated Twitter platform, translating the literary polyphony of Frances Burney's epistolary novel into the language of our own, status-conscious milieu. The second, "Pride and Prejudice meets Myers-Briggs," taps into student interest in online personality quizzes and asks them to use Austen's textual clues to explain character quirks and relational dynamics.