Amazing lecture! Persuasion is in fact a sophisticated novel, each rereading opens up different possibilities.

Belinda's lectures are always so interesting! Beautiful :)

I wonder if 'the earlier strikingly similar contrivance' to 'the dramatic turning point' (Louisa's falling off the wall?) mentioned at around 45'40" in this talk is when little Charles falls out of the tree. So, now, do we examine that incident and find parallels with Louisa's situation?

7:18 - story of persuasion

It's Wentworth's view, not the narrator's or Anne's when he is telling himself that Anne has no more power over him.

And how is her imagination not her life? Either a novelist is a reporter or she is writing about her life, her dreams.

The novels of Jane Austen were in fact written by Jane's sophisticated and educated cousin, Eliza de Feuillide. Eliza could not publish under her own name because she was the illegitimate daughter of Warren Hastings, the Governor General of India. To publish under her own name would have caused a scandal. Eliza had a fascinating life, completely different from the dull life of Jane Austen. She was born in Calcutta in India and given £10,000 by Warren Hastings to pay for her literary and musical education in London. She married a French count who was executed in the French Revolution. She spoke perfect French and played the piano, harp and harpsichord. Her second husband was Jane Austen's brother, Henry. They lived together in London and frequently visited the opera and theatre. Eliza acted in amateur theatricals similar to those in Mansfield Park and she was an accomplished amateur comedian. To find out about the fascinating life of Eliza and how the events in her life inspired each of the novels you can read my book "Jane Austen - a New Revelation".