Our lecturer for ‘Teaching Jane Austen in the Classroom’ is Benjamin Taaffe from Sydney who has spent his working life of 43 years teaching English at Ascham School. This school for girls runs by the Dalton Plan which allocates half the time allotted to a subject to conventional lectures and the other half to informal ‘studies’ also conducted in the classroom where the students work independently on their weekly assignments and are encouraged to discuss their ideas with the teacher.

Ben has a special interest in certain recurring patterns in Austen’s novels and will discuss these patterns in Pride & Prejudice, Emma and Persuasion with regard to the journeys of the heroines away from their homes, the settings of the successful and unsuccessful proposal scenes, the marriages and the role of the rogues. Ben presented a talk for JASA Sydney in 2023 and Susannah Fullerton has advised it was one of the best talks they have had. With such a glowing review from Susannah, it is one that is not to be missed!