Persuasion by Jane Austen

This Great Books class is sold out. Please email human@unc.edu with your First & Last name, and phone number to be added to the waitlist.

featuring Rachel Gurvich, Clinical Associate Professor of Law

Her most maturely written novel, showing a refinement of literary conception

—A brilliant satire of vanity and pretension, Persuasion is, above all, a love story tinged with the heartache of missed opportunities. —Thomas Nelson Publishers

—Jane Austen’s last completed novel and her most optimistic and romantic work, Persuasion gives full scope to Austen’s artistic powers, blending sharp wit and warm sympathy, stylistic brilliance and matchless insight. —Signet Classics

—Austen knew that love is the very largest concern of life, then as now, and in Persuasion she makes Anne’s whole world hang on a single letter. It is a moment that demonstrates both the superb compression and the enduring appeal of her art. —The Conversation

—Few books have made me feel more tense than Persuasion. I could feel my stomach knotting as I read, not just at the frisson between Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth, but the precariousness of their society. All the concerns in the novel – over position, appearance, doing and saying the right thing – are a constant balancing act, on a tightrope with a long fall. For all the elegance, manners and fussing over calling cards, Persuasion is almost terrifying. —Sam Jordison, The Guardian

—The perfect novel —Harold Bloom

Meeting Dates: Tuesdays, June 15 and 22

Cost: $35, includes a copy of the book shipped to your home

Register online or call 919.962.1544