Our introductory session looked at both Georgian/Regency society 1780 – 1820, and Jane Austen’s life.
Austen grew up within a changing social group of the County Gentry, a group of old rural squires but now, also rich newcomers renting or buying country properties, but with few understandings of how this county squirarchy had behaved for generations. Of the dozen or so local families that the Austen family visited, only two of the old gentry remained. This gave her a rich tapestry from which to satirically draw many of her characters: the frivolous and the worthy.
We watched Lucy Worsley’s excellent UTube video* in which she visited the many houses and towns the Austen family lived in after they shifted away from their original home in Steventon, where her father had been a rector in the local church for many years. She traced the changes of fortune that Jane Austen experienced in her life as an author.
Austen grew up within a changing social group of the County Gentry, a group of old rural squires but now, also rich newcomers renting or buying country properties, but with few understandings of how this county squirarchy had behaved for generations. Of the dozen or so local families that the Austen family visited, only two of the old gentry remained. This gave her a rich tapestry from which to satirically draw many of her characters: the frivolous and the worthy.
We watched Lucy Worsley’s excellent UTube video* in which she visited the many houses and towns the Austen family lived in after they shifted away from their original home in Steventon, where her father had been a rector in the local church for many years. She traced the changes of fortune that Jane Austen experienced in her life as an author.
In March we will talk about Sense and Sensibility, her first published novel in 1811.
If you wish you may read a fuller version of my introductory discussion notes by clicking on the link below
If you wish you may read a fuller version of my introductory discussion notes by clicking on the link below
Meg Dillon
*The Untold Story of Jane Austen: Behind Closed Doors, narrated by Lucy Worsley, UTube. [50 minutes] A general introduction to Austen’s life.
Extension: Also recommended Death of Jane Austen, narrated by Lucy Worsley, UTube.
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