Gentility, Gossip and Gallantry: Common Misconceptions About Jane Austen

Presented by Mary Sharp

Jane Austen’s novels are often characterised as lightweight romances dealing in trivialities and portraying a limited social sphere, reflecting the constricted circumstances of the author’s own life. This lecture offers an alternative reading, suggesting Austen is not interested in romance but moral challenge, not a mild spinster but a social commentator of contemporary relevance. Mary will read and discuss extracts from Emma and Pride and Prejudice, posing and considering questions such as how we should view the tedious Miss Bates to whom Emma is so famously insolent and how we should judge the over-excitable Mrs Bennet.

Dates and Locations

Wednesday 8 July 2026 Orange (NSW)

Tuesday 28 July 2026 Bowral (NSW)

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