Jane Austen Society of NC presents: "Jane Austen and the Labor of Leisure" lecture

The Jane Austen Society of North Carolina Presents:
Jane Austen and the Labor of Leisure

Peter W. Graham
Clifford Professor of English at Virginia Tech University & author of Jane Austen and Charles Darwin: Naturalists and Novelists

It's a truth universally acknowledged that the primary activity depicted in Jane Austen's novels is social leisure: balls, dinners, visits, musical performances, excursions. This is not to say that the characters on whom Austen centers don't have practical work to do or serious responsibilities to fulfill--but their labor generally occurs outside the frame of the novel.  How does Austen's fictive focus on leisure shape her novels and influence her readers' attitudes toward those works and their characters? This talk will attempt to offer some explanations.

Please email Virginia Claire Tharrington at vct430@gmail.com with any questions