The Novels of Jane Austen with Sasha Troyan (Sold Out)

This reading group has reached its capacity. To join the waitlist, please email Allison Escoto at [email protected].

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Meeting Dates:
Tuesdays, 3/16, 4/13, 5/18, 6/15
6-7:30pm ET via Zoom

Jane Austen’s novels are as popular today as they were two hundred and ten years ago. Of course, not everyone was a fan of her novels; notably, Charlotte Brontë who wrote to the critic G.H. Lewes, ‘Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? I am puzzled on that point. I had not seen Pride and Prejudice till I read that sentence of yours, and then I got the book and studied it. And what did I find? An accurate daguerreotyped portrait of a commonplace face; a carefully-fenced, highly cultivated garden with neat border and delicate flowers-but no glance of a vivid physiognomy-no open country-no fresh air-no blue hill-no bonny beck. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen in their elegant but confined houses.”

Even Charlotte Brontë’s criticism suggests Jane Austen’s virtues: the intricate design of her novels and the finely wrought prose. But she neglects Austen’s wit and her ability to capture the society of her time. Posterity has proved Charlotte Brontë wrong. We do want to spend time with Austen’s “ladies and gentlemen.” This reading group will explore what makes Jane Austen’s novels enduringly popular. We will read four of her best novels.

• Session I: Sense and Sensibility (1811)
• Session II: Pride and Prejudice (1813)
• Session III: Mansfield Park (1814)
• Session IV: Persuasion (1818)

An audiobook accompaniment to Pride and Prejudice generously provided by Audible to enhance the reading experience.