Presenting Georgian Society: Fielding, Smollett, Austen

The Georgian era was an innovative period in English literature and saw the emergence of the English novel. Writers such as Henry Fielding (1707-1754), Tobias Smollett (1721-1771) and Jane Austen (1775-1817) were some of the foremost authors of the age and their novels are notable for their robust depictions of characters from varying levels of society. This lecture will look at how and why novelists presented society in differing ways.

Jeremy Black is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Exeter and a Senior Fellow both of Policy Exchange and of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is the author of many books, including A Subject for Taste: Culture in Eighteenth-Century England; George III: America’s Last King; England in the Age of Shakespeare; and Charting the Past: The Historical Worlds of Eighteenth-Century England. Black is a recipient of the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize from the Society for Military History.

The talks starts at 6.30pm. Joining details will be sent to attendees the day before.