New read-along – Persuasion
by Jane Austen
This read-along is now finished, but you can catch up on our full conversation here.
On Friday this week some of us are embarking on an ambitious fourteen-month read-along of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, but our regular monthly read-alongs will continue throughout the year and I’m delighted to announce our February title: Persuasion by Jane Austen, who was born 250 years ago this year.
What is it?
Eight years ago, Anne Elliot was persuaded to break her engagement with the handsome but poor Captain Wentworth. They are given a second chance at happiness, however, when they meet again in the fashionable Georgian resorts of Lyme Regis and Bath. Persuasion is Austen’s last completed novel, published posthumously in December 1817.
Why are we reading it now?
This year marks Jane Austen’s quarter millennial – 250 years since she was born. To celebrate, we are reading her most mature and most romantic novel.
How will we read it?
Persuasion is just over 200 pages long. It was first published in two volumes – as part of a four-volume set with Northanger Abbey – with twelve chapters in each volume, twenty-four in total. I suggest we read it over four weeks:
We’ll start reading on Friday 31st January.
On Friday 7th February we’ll discuss Volume One, Chapters 1-7.
On Valentine’s Day, 14th February, we’ll discuss Volume One, Chapters 8-12.
On Friday 21st February we’ll discuss Volume Two, Chapters 1-8 (13-20).
And on Friday 28th February we’ll discuss Volume Two, Chapters 9-12 (21-24).
Our posts and conversations will all be collected here.
Which edition should I read?
There are dozens of easily available editions of Jane Austen. I am planning to read Persuasion in the current Penguin Classics edition, which has an introduction and notes by the literary critic Professor Dame Gillian Beer.
What if I don’t want to read it?
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“Persuasion” is my favourite Jane Austen novel and I’m really looking forward to reading it with you all. I watched the BBC adaptation over the holiday break as part of an Austen binge & I’m also reading Lucy Worsley’s ‘Jane Austen at Home.’
Although it covers an earlier period than “Anna Karenina”, it is the same timeframe as “War and Peace” (if I can bring Simon’s brilliant slow read in here briefly), and highlights how Britain was at war for almost the whole of Jane’s life, with “Persuasion” being set just after the Napoleonic Wars had ended.
I’m finding it’s adding so many additional layers to be reading all of these novels side by side, especially at this time in our own history. I’m going to have to create a reading timetable to keep track and on track though (and thank for “Mrs Dalloway” in a day on 18th June, Henry! Another of my all time favourite books). 😄
Anchor published a fantastic annotated edition of Persuasion that I often re-read. It includes historical contexts, maps, illustrations, character notes, etc.
Looking forward to the re-read!