"The culmination of Jane Austen's genius, a sparkling comedy of love and marriage--now in a stunning 200th-anniversary Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition. Beautiful, clever, rich-- and single-- Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts...

Lady Susan is a short, epistolary novel by Jane Austen. Lady Susan Vernon is a selfish, attractive, and unscrupulous woman, who tries to trap the best possible husband while maintaining a relationship with a married man. As a widow, she seeks a match for herself, as well as husband-hunting for her daughter. Lady Susan is not only beautiful but intelligent and witty; she's highly attractive to men and her suitors are always significantly younger. Inspired...

Regency England was a highly stratified world, with well-known cues to signal one's rank in the social hierarchy. Investigate the intricacies of early 19th-century social status and what it communicated about one's supposed worth. Learn the vocabulary of rank and status, as well as the many ways that Austen's fiction offers a pointed critique of the world in which she lived.

Austen's last completed novel, Persuasion, is slower in pace and more melancholy in tone than her earlier work. Look closely at two defining features of the story: its focus on age and aging and its more direct approach to real-life political events of the time. Better appreciate the many complex dimensions of Austen's final published work.

Both Jane Austen's reputation for literary greatness and her pop-culture cachet continue to grow with each new adaptation and every new generation that encounters her work. How has pop culture helped shape Austen's long afterlife? Answer this question and more as you close the series with an examination of the lesser-known twists and turns of Austen's popularity in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Take a tour of the finer points of Regency clothing and luxury items, and see how Austen uses descriptions of dress and accessories to make subtle (and not-so-subtle) observations on both the social status and the moral values of her characters. Better understand how "frivolous" distinctions about what one wears take on significant meanings in Austen's fiction.

Mansfield Park is perhaps the most controversial of Austen's finished novels. Meet Fanny Price, the unassuming heroine at the center of this more serious entry in Austen's oeuvre, and see why Austen's third novel is the most divisive among readers. Through Fanny's travails and quiet rebellion, Austen would create a complex story that examines the dynamics of family, power, work, and gender.

Jane Austen's literary career was a family affair. Broaden your view with a look at the impact of Austen's literary family, which offers a crucial lens through which to examine her writings, authorship, and legacy. You will see how Austen's family, from her parents and siblings to her nieces and nephews and beyond, nourished her talent and grew her eventual fame.

Consider wellness, sickness, and the finer points of the medical profession in Austen's fiction and in her day to deepen your knowledge of the genius of her books. From valetudinarians and deadly fevers, to sprained ankles and gout, look at the important role that physical health -- both good and ill -- plays in Austen's novels and how medical professionals treated patients in the Regency era.

A generation and more ago, critics accused Austen of ignoring the larger political events of the day in her fiction. That myth hasn't stood up to scrutiny. The early 19th century was a time of revolutions and upheaval, as Austen well knew and as her fiction demonstrations. In this episode, you will learn how Austen viewed the events of her day and how they influenced her life and fiction.