The “cult of Austen” reveals the extent to which Jane Austen has stood the test of time.

One of her favorite authors, Samuel Johnson, argued that Shakespeare passed that test because he captured universals—human nature as it always has been and always will be. This is a key question for the study of the humanities, and in this seminar on Jane Austen we will use digital tools to trace Austen's influence and explore more deliberately how she does that and what exactly in her novels continues to speak to us.