Jane Austen at 250: Part Two
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

Jane Austen is 250 years old this year. To celebrate, we will focus on analysis of Austen's work in relation to the social and cultural conditions of late 18th and early 19th century England. We will explore the ways in which Austen's work responds to and reflects the major social issues of her time: the Napoleonic wars, the abolition of the slave trade, gender inequity in laws and customs, the landed gentry, and economic inequities. We will also explore the ways in which modern adaptations incorporate or, more often, ignore these themes. Austen was an English writer who first gave the novel its distinctly modern character. She published four novels during her lifetime (1775-1817) and two posthumously. They have become timeless classics.