In her eighties, Ruth Wilson embarked on an academic journey, enrolling in a PhD program at the University of Sydney. Her research focused on reading and teaching Jane Austen’s fiction, culminating in the completion of her doctorate in 2021 at the age of 89. This achievement underscored her belief in lifelong learning and the timeless relevance of Austen’s work.
Ruth had married at 21, raised a family in Sydney, took a 10-year hiatus in the Southern Highlands, and realised she had yet more to accomplish. She returned to Sydney, and, in her eighties, embarked on an academic journey, enrolling in a PhD program at the University of Sydney. Ruth’s research focused on reading and teaching Jane Austen’s fiction, culminating in the completion of her doctorate in 2021 at the age of 89. This achievement underscored her belief in lifelong learning and the timeless relevance of Austen’s work.
Lauren Sams, in the Sydney Alumni Magazine (University of Sydney’s publication for alumni), quotes Ruth:
“I joined the Jane Austen Society, I joined Friends of the Library. And it all made me start thinking more seriously about what reading is, and what it can offer us. I had this lightbulb moment of, ‘Why not do a PhD? Why not do some really serious research?’” Wilson wasn’t a stranger to postgraduate life; in 1979 she had earned a master’s degree from the University of Tel Aviv, and in 1981 she’d returned to the University of Sydney for her Diploma of Education. However, it was her PhD into the role of reading, and how it shifts and changes, that has defined Wilson’s life’s work, and has made her “an accidental writer”.
The title of Ruth’s PhD thesis was described by Devoney Looser, who was one of the examiners, as ‘a significant, original contribution that combines the methods of criticism and memoir’. In her talk, Ruth discusses the background of her research and her close readings of the three novels that serve as test cases for the recommended reading approach. In 2022, Ruth gave a presentation to the members of the Jane Austen Society of Australia about her PhD study, her thesis, and the impact this study had on her life.
“Being at the University was a continuation of an intellectual awakening that had started with reading books in high school,” said Dr Ruth Wilson. The reading method that Ruth practised in her thesis led to an invitation to write a reading memoir in which Austen’s fiction is central to a reading life. Her book The Jane Austen Remedy was the magnificent result.
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