Our May Virtual Book Club is a nonfiction selection, and we’re reading John Mullan’s very readable What Matters in Jane Austen?.
The Details
What: JASNA-NC Member Meeting, Virtual Book Club: What Matters in Jane Austen? by John Mullan
When: May 21, 2023 from 2:00-3:30 p.m.
Where: In the comfort of your home via Zoom
RSVP: This is a member-only event; it is FREE but registration is required.
Accessibility: We have auto-captions available in the Zoom meeting. If you have accessibility needs we have not addressed here, please let us know.
About the Book
Which important Austen characters never speak? Is there any sex in Austen? What do the characters call one another, and why? What are the right and wrong ways to propose marriage? In What Matters in Jane Austen?, John Mullan shows that we can best appreciate Austen’s brilliance by looking at the intriguing quirks and intricacies of her fiction. Asking and answering some very specific questions about what goes on in her novels, he reveals the inner workings of their greatness.
In twenty short chapters, each of which explores a question prompted by Austens novels, Mullan illuminates the themes that matter most in her beloved fiction. Readers will discover when Austen’s characters had their meals and what shops they went to; how vicars got good livings; and how wealth was inherited. What Matters in Jane Austen? illuminates the rituals and conventions of her fictional world in order to reveal her technical virtuosity and daring as a novelist. It uses telling passages from Austen’s letters and details from her own life to explain episodes in her novels: readers will find out, for example, what novels she read, how much money she had to live on, and what she saw at the theater. Written with flair and based on a lifetime’s study, What Matters in Jane Austen? will allow readers to appreciate Jane Austen’s work in greater depth than ever before.
About the Virtual Book Club
The Virtual Book Club takes place quarterly with the following rotation:
- February – Contemporary of Austen
- May – Nonfiction work
- August – An Austen work
- November – Fan fiction
About Our Facilitators
For 2023, we have a rotation of wonderful facilitators: Mary Jane Curry, Nancy Martin-Young, and Sara Tavela will help coordinate book selections and rotate through facilitating meetings. We are delighted to continue our conversations about fascinating books with wonderful facilitators!