LOVING A LAUGH with John Wiltshire

This lecture is about Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It focuses on three of the characters, including Elizabeth Bennet and her father, who laugh a good deal in the novel, and who only smiles. I suggest that her laughter makes 'Lizzie' a remarkable innovation in the ‘ladies novel' of the time. 

JOHN WILTSHIRE is Emeritus Professor at La Trobe University where he taught English Literature for about forty years. He is the author of numerous books about Jane Austen and has edited Mansfield Park for the authoritative Cambridge edition. His most recent publications are The Cinematic Jane Austen (2009) and The Making of Dr Johnson (2009) and Hidden Jane Austen (2015). His most recent book, Frances Burney and the Doctors: patient experiences then and now was published by Cambridge University Press in 2019. He has given talks in England, the USA, India, and Australia and has enjoyed speaking at TJC since 2008. 

This lecture is presented on-site at The Johnston Collection. Please see your ticket for details.

Image: J W (John Whitfield) Taylor, "We like the plot, Miss Austen, but all this effing and blinding will have to go." published in December 1982 edition of Punch magazine © Punch Limited, 1982