MRS BENNET’S NERVES: Jane Austen & The Body, Health & Medicine with John Wiltshire

Like her contemporary, King George III, Mrs Bennet complains of her ‘nerves’.

She is one of many characters in Jane Austen’s novels who suffer from real, or possibly imagined, illnesses: Marianne Dashwood, Mrs Churchill, Mr Woodhouse, Mary Musgrove, and the Parker sisters in the unfinished novel Sanditon among them. This talk will discuss these characters along with medical practice in Jane Austen’s time.

JOHN WILTSHIRE was a Professor at La Trobe University until his retirement in 2007. He is the author of several books about Jane Austen, and has edited Mansfield Park for the authoritative Cambridge edition. His most recent books are The Cinematic Jane Austen (2009) and The Making of Dr Johnson (2009).