Staff and students are invited to the launch of Jane Austen: The Banker’s Sister by E.J. Clery, Professor of English in the Faculty of Humanities.
The launch will take place on Tuesday 6 June from 17:30 – 19:00 at John Smith Booksellers, Highfield Campus. There will be a short talk, signings and drinks.
In the year of bicentenary events marking Jane Austen’s death and the launch of the £10 Jane Austen banknote by the Bank of England, this book tells the story of the original Austen banknotes, issued by her favourite brother. Handsome, clever and enterprising, Henry Austen founded a bank business and charmed his way into the top rank of aristocratic society before going spectacularly bust in the financial crash of 1816. He left an enduring legacy, however, for it was Henry who supported Jane’s dream of becoming a published author.
Professor Clery’s book, published by Biteback Publishing, presents a radically new vision of the much-loved Austen, revealing how her works were shaped by an acute awareness of the economic scandals, crises, and speculations that marked the Regency era, as well as a fascinating reappraisal of the political connections and economic interests of the Austen family.
The research for this book arose through close collaboration between staff in the English Department at the University and Chawton House Library, the former seat of Jane Austen’s brother Edward (now a Centre for Early Women’s Writing).
The author teaches courses on Austen and her contemporaries at undergraduate and graduate level, and has received a Major Leverhulme Trust Fellowship on the topic ‘Romantic-era Women Writers and the Question of Economic Progress’.
