The critical essay is not to be confused with a book review, which usually amounts to little more than a summary of the book’s contents followed by a simple “like-dislike” judgment. **********Rather, your essay is to be a reasoned discussion of an aspect or aspects of Jane Austen’s novel Emma (1816).********
Your text–the Norton Critical Edition–contains, in addition to an authoritative translation of the novel itself: explanatory lists and notes, backgrounds and sources, and essays in criticism. I will upload the ESSAYS IN CRITICISM!!!
These materials will greatly aid you in understanding and enjoying one of the greatest imaginative works in world literature.
For your 1000-word critical essay, you may treat any theme, character, plot situation, or idea(s) you wish, though don’t try, in this short paper, to analyze too large a subject. You may wish, for example, to take one (or two) of the “Essays in Criticism” and base your essay on your reaction to that author’s view (e.g., do you agree/disagree with A. Walton Litz — why?). (20 points)





