Jane Austen vs Charlotte Brontë at the Charleston Festival

An alert for today, May 26, in the Charleston Festival:

Jane Austen v Charlotte Brontë
Claire Harman and John Mullan with Virginia Nicholson
May 26 2016
3:30pm

In the bicentenary of the birth of Charlotte Brontë and 200 years since the publication of Jane Austen’s Emma, her most revolutionary novel, the debate still rages as to who is the most illustrious representative of English literature.  Austen advocates claim that no one matches her sensitive ear for hypocrisy and irony.  Brontë champions assert that her imaginative passion reigns supreme. Who better to try to resolve the contest than Claire Harman, current biographer of Charlotte Brontë and John Mullan, Professor of English Literature and author of What Matters in Jane Austen? The audience will have the final say. Moderator Virginia Nicholson, social historian, is entirely impartial.
Supported by Lancing College