Charlemont - Tyler Memorial Library

"Persuasion by Jane Austen. What does persuasion mean - a firm belief, or the action of persuading someone to think something else? Anne Elliot is one of Austen's quietest heroines, but also one of the strongest and the most open to change. She lives at the time of the Napoleonic wars, a time of accident, adventure, the making of new fortunes and alliances. A woman of no importance, she maneuvers in her restricted circumstances as her long-time love...

One of the two novels published after Austen's death, Northanger Abbey is Austen's love letter to the gothic novels of her youth. Look at the gothic tradition of the late 1700s and how Austen's gentle mocking of the melodramatic flourishes of the genre inform the experiences of her impressionable young heroine, Catherine Morland.

Consider wellness, sickness, and the finer points of the medical profession in Austen's fiction and in her day to deepen your knowledge of the genius of her books. From valetudinarians and deadly fevers, to sprained ankles and gout, look at the important role that physical health -- both good and ill -- plays in Austen's novels and how medical professionals treated patients in the Regency era.

Take a tour of the finer points of Regency clothing and luxury items, and see how Austen uses descriptions of dress and accessories to make subtle (and not-so-subtle) observations on both the social status and the moral values of her characters. Better understand how "frivolous" distinctions about what one wears take on significant meanings in Austen's fiction.

How has Jane Austen been remembered? Consider both the myths and the realities of Jane Austen's fame over the years following her death in 1817, beginning with her brother Henry's caricaturing, if loving, biographical essay. Then, look at a few of the famous figures who loved her -- and some who didn't -- and close with an examination of her first full biography and her enduring legacy.

As Jane Austen's health declined near the end of her life, she continued to work on a manuscript that she would never finish: a would-be seventh novel entitled Sanditon, which satirized health fads and introduced new complexities of character into her fiction. Despite only consisting of 11 incomplete chapters, this unfinished work nevertheless shows us a novelist at the height of her powers.

Despite the treasure trove of information that we have about Jane Austen's historical time and place, we actually have very little direct knowledge about her life. Look at what we do know from her surviving letters, and take a closer look at the facts and fictions that have persisted over time about her life.

Look at Austen's heroes and other men that populate her stories, and examine the professions available to well-born men of her day, especially in the clergy, the law, the military, and medicine. Although social class might dictate what kinds of labor were considered most acceptable for men, Austen considered employment and activity essential to good character.

What made for an "accomplished" woman in the Regency period? Look at the list of activities and talents expected of young women of means and how these accomplishments contrast with being well read or learned. Along the way, you'll see what Austen thought about these accomplishments and what she believed were the greater benefits of an education of knowledge and ideas for middle-class women.

Many readers come to Austen's fiction thinking that they are about to encounter sedate, small-scale, realistic stories. But as you will see, when Austen first began writing as a teenager, her style and her subjects were far more risk-taking and boisterously comic. Explore her juvenilia and discover the surprising beginnings of her literary efforts.