Wiawaka Lecture Series: Jane Austen: Her Time, Our Time w/Catherine Golden

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen’s early nineteenth-century novels, deeply rooted in her time, resonate in our time. If you recognize the allusion to Pride and Prejudice (1813) in this first sentence, this talk is for you; if you don’t recognize this allusion, you surely will after this presentation. We will examine Austen in her cultural moment and in our twenty-first century. Beginning with Austen’s biography, we will consider what we do and do not know about Austen’s brief life (1775-1817), her Regency “sense and sensibility”, and legacy. We will examine the rise of Janeites—devoted Jane Austen fans—in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and consider how today this canonical novelist has become a consumer icon and a profitable literary brand. The presentation will be amply illustrated with paintings, photographs, illustration, and film clips. Come learn about Jane Austen from Skidmore English professor Catherine J. Golden https://academics.skidmore.edu/blogs/catherinejgolden/.