Sydney meeting
Jane Austen at the Queen’s Club
Ben Taafe

Ben Taafe describes his talk as follows:

I spoke once before to JASA. The topic, ‘Jane Austen in the Classroom’, was a reflection on my years as a teacher. In 2010, when I left the classroom, I thought that retirement would mark the end of literature classes, that I would bid Jane Austen adieu. But I was wrong. Sydney’s Queen’s Club asked me to offer classes on Jane Austen and, in another classroom, Miss Austen and I were back together. Today’s occasion here focuses on what I have learned at the Queen’s Club: on what we might see in Jane Austen by superimposing one novel onto another.

I have three topics. I am thinking of failed marriage proposals: of Mr Collins in Pride and Prejudice, of Mr Elton in Emma, and also the decision by Anne in Persuasion to have ended her engagement. Then two satirical portraits: of Lady Catherine, and of Mrs Elton. A final point looks at the second, successful, proposal in Persuasion. The ladies at the Queen’s Club have seen a truth universally acknowledged: that Jane Austen reveals much of her world when we see one novel in terms of another.