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First Tuesday Book Club: Pride and Prejudice

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Man sits on set of First Tuesday Book Club, text overlay reads "Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen"
First Tuesday Book Club: Pride and Prejudice

SUBJECTS:  English

YEARS:  9–10


We all have different opinions about novels but how do we elaborate on whether we think a novel is 'good' or 'bad'?

Listen to what the First Tuesday Book Club panellists have to say about the classic, and perhaps first ever, romantic comedy — Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice'.


Things to think about

  1. 1.What is a romantic comedy? Name some famous girl-meets-boy romantic comedy films like 'Bridget Jones' Diary'. Colm Toibin says that the classic nineteenth century novel, 'Pride and Prejudice' is the model for modern romantic comedies. The other panellists think the novel is a little boring. What do you think?
  2. 2.List two reasons why Colm Toibin thinks that 'Pride and Prejudice' is such an important novel? List two reasons why Lionel Shriver finds 'Pride and Prejudice' heavy going?
  3. 3.Who do you think presents the strongest argument for their view on 'Pride and Prejudice' — Colm Toibin or Lionel Shriver? Why? Colm Toibin is a fan of 'Pride and Prejudice'. He says it is the first time in any novel that we get inside the head of a female character. This helps to develop the idea of the heroine. What if Jane Austen had never made this landmark step in writing novels? How would reading a novel about women be today be different?
  4. 4.Read or view the film of one of Jane Austen's other novels like 'Mansfield Park', 'Emma' or 'Persuasion'. Conduct a brief survey of romantic comedy films your friends have watched. Are there any scenarios that echo the set up of a Jane Austen novel?


Date of broadcast: 1 Jun 2010


Copyright

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