Jane Austen fight club: experts go head-to-head arguing for her best leading man

By James Vigus, Senior Lecturer in English, Queen Mary University of London
Christine Hawkins, Early career researcher and associate teacher, English literature, Queen Mary University of London
Emrys D. Jones, Senior Lecturer in Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture, King's College London
Jane E Wright, Senior Lecturer, English Literature, University of Bristol
Michael Meeuwis, Associate Professor (Reader) of Literature, University of Warwick
Penny Bradshaw, Associate Professor of English Literature, University of Cumbria
Sarah Annes Brown, Professor of English Literature, Anglia Ruskin University

To mark the 250th anniversary of her birth, we’re pitting Jane Austen’s much-loved novels against each other in a battle of wit, charm and romance. Seven leading Austen experts have made their case for her ultimate leading man, but the winner is down to you. Cast your vote in the poll at the end of the article, and let us know the reason for your choice in the comments. It’s breeches at dawn.

Edward Ferrars, Sense and Sensibility

Championed by James Vigus, senior lecturer in English, Queen…

Read complete article

More

~ Kyrgyzstan adopts new, draconian media law

~ How to improve the monitoring of chemical contaminants in the human body

~ Grief feels unbearable, disorienting and chaotic – a grief researcher and widow shares evidence-based ways to face the early days of loss

~ AI is making reading books feel obsolete – and students have a lot to lose

~ Labor Day and May Day emerged from the movement for a shorter workday in industrial America

~ 4 out of 5 US troops surveyed understand the duty to disobey illegal orders

~ How poisoned data can trick AI − and how to stop it

~ Spiderweb silks and architectures reveal millions of years of evolutionary ingenuity

~ Mindfulness is gaining traction in American schools – but it isn’t clear what students are learning

~ Where America’s CO emissions come from – what you need to know, in charts

Complete list

Follow us on ...

~	Kyrgyzstan adopts new, draconian media law

~	How to improve the monitoring of chemical contaminants in the human body

~	Grief feels unbearable, disorienting and chaotic – a grief researcher and widow shares evidence-based ways to face the early days of loss

~	AI is making reading books feel obsolete – and students have a lot to lose

~	Labor Day and May Day emerged from the movement for a shorter workday in industrial America

~	4 out of 5 US troops surveyed understand the duty to disobey illegal orders

~	How poisoned data can trick AI − and how to stop it

~	Spiderweb silks and architectures reveal millions of years of evolutionary ingenuity

~	Mindfulness is gaining traction in American schools – but it isn’t clear what students are learning

~	Where America’s CO emissions come from – what you need to know, in charts