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Start Here: Jane Austen's Persuasion (Reading Assignments, Relevance & Recommended Editions) (Patreon)

Published:
2021-05-18 20:01:14
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

We're about to enter the world of Jane Austen...

So let's chat about how to prepare for reading Persuasion together.

You've got some reading assignments and I'm recommending my favourite editions of Austen's melancholy masterpiece.

We'll also be talking about why Austen is still relevant in 2021 (cryptocurrency, anyone?), peacetime prefacing more war, how Austen creates characters, and how Austen influenced basically everyone - especially Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Proust.

Video Timestamps:

  • 0:00 welcome to the world of Jane Austen
  • 0:30 why is Jane Austen still relevant in 2021?
  • 1:30 decentralised finance, cryptocurrency, and serfdom
  • 3:00 peacetime prefacing more war, trauma, and uncertainty
  • 4:00 Sir Walter Elliot vs Captain Frederick Wentworth
  • 5:00 Captain Wentworth vs Mr Darcy
  • 7:00 Plato and constant heavenly mature love
  • 8:00 the themes and preoccupations of Persuasion
  • 9:00 how Austen influenced Tolstoy (free indirect style)
  • 9:40 there is no Dostoyevsky without Austen
  • 10:00 how Austen imbues her minor characters with singularity
  • 10:30 E.M. Foster’s round vs flat characters
  • 11:00 guess the character who never says a single direct line
  • 11:00 Jane Austen, Proust, and the art of complex characterisation
  • 12:00 reading as a collaborative act
  • 12:30 our synoptic reading style in the Book Club
  • 17:30 my message to those who resist Austen (an analogy from the world of mechanics)
  • 19:00 my message to those who delight in Austen (an analogy from the wine tasting world)
  • 20:30 how literature saved me during lockdown
  • 21:05 4 x reading assignments
  • 24:50 different recommended editions of Persuasion

Recommended Edition:

Early Reading Assignments

You are collecting/foraging for:

  • 1 x beautiful passage - what strikes you as eminently beautiful in Persuasion?
  • 1 x character description - what character description do you find illuminating?
  • 1 x uninspiring passage - what passages do you find yourself losing interest in?
  • 1 x favourite line - what line would you like to possess by memory?

And a quote that I cannot resist sharing with you:

When pain is over, the remembrance of it often becomes a pleasure.

Happy reading, everybody.

I'll see you at Kellynch Hall!

Files

Previews only

Start Here: Jane Austen's Persuasion (Reading Assignments, Relevance & Recommended Editions)

0:00 welcome to the world of Jane Austen 0:30 why is Jane Austen still relevant in 2021? 1:30 decentralised finance, cryptocurrency, and serfdom 3:00 peacetime prefacing more war, trauma, and uncertainty 4:00 Sir Walter Elliot vs Captain Frederick Wentworth 5:00 Captain Wentworth vs Mr Darcy 7:00 Plato and constant heavenly mature love 8:00 the themes and preoccupations of Persuasion 9:00 how Austen influenced Tolstoy (free indirect style) 9:40 there is no Dostoyevsky without Austen 10:00 how Austen imbues her minor characters with singularity 10:30 E.M. Foster’s round vs flat characters 11:00 guess the character who never says a single direct line 11:00 Jane Austen, Proust, and the art of complex characterisation 12:00 reading as a collaborative act 12:30 our synoptic reading style in the Book Club 17:30 my message to those who resist Austen (an analogy from the world of mechanics) 19:00 my message to those who delight in Austen (an analogy from the wine tasting world) 20:30 how literature saved me during lockdown 21:05 4 x reading assignments 24:50 different recommended editions of Persuasion

Comments

Anonymous

The first time I ever read Jane Austen and Persuasion was in high school at the age of 17. My teacher told our class that we would each pick a different Jane Austen novel to read and then we would all come back together as a class to discuss how all of her books are the exact same and she was a terrible writer. Consequently, I disliked Austen. I admired and respected this teacher's opinion, so I read the book under the lens that it was not good literature. Rereading it now, as an adult (15 years later), I have completely fallen in love with Jane Austen. I feel angry looking back that this teacher influenced our opinion before we ever even cracked the spine of the book. Her artful ability to build multidimensional characters and her subtle humor was lost on me previously. I'm actually enjoying the book so much, I am having a hard time slowing down. I might need to reread slowly after I get through the first speed through. I do also agree that the time of your life that you come to a book is so important. Now that I'm 32 and have lived more of life and, in fact, am similar in age to the protagonist, I feel much more connected to the characters than before. I think subtlety can sometimes be lost on the young and Jane Austen is the queen of subtlety.

Matthew Long

Quite late to the show here but since I just joined the HLBC this week I am excited to go back and explore some of the previous offerings while also following along with the current Big Reads. I have never read Jane Austen before although she has been on my list of authors to read for quite some time. Looking forward to this foray into her works.