Lit In-Person: Pride and Prejudice

Dusting Off the Classics: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
Three In-Person Sessions
Mon., Apr. 28, May 5, 12, 2025, 6:30-8:30 pm MT

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has inspired devoted fans since it was published in 1813. Many readers are drawn to the vivid characters of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, rooting for their love affair and reveling in the happy ending. But Austen didn’t think of herself as writing a timeless romance; instead, her depiction of the Bennets, their friends and enemies, and their travails, were rooted in the social and economic context of her time. Join history professor Ingrid Tague as she probes how Austen used her acerbic wit to create an incisive portrayal of a society where nuances of rank and status presented minefields in every conversation. Behind the romance and humor lay a dark reality in which financial collapse and social ruin were much more likely than a fairy tale ending. Austen’s contemporaries would have recognized the real threats posed by the antics of Elizabeth’s sisters and mother at a time when personal reputation was an essential currency. They would have understood that her status as “the daughter of a gentleman” was both her ticket to upward mobility and a straitjacket. Unpack the details that create a precise map of social relations in the novel, and consider why the stakes for the characters went far beyond a happy marriage.

Ingrid Tague, professor of history at the University of Denver, teaches European history from the Middle Ages to the 19th century and is a specialist in early modern British history, with a particular interest in cultural and gender history. Her most recent book is Animal Companions: Pets and Social Change in Eighteenth-Century Britain.