What do Austen’s novels tell us about attitudes towards rakishness? This talk will consider Austen’s most famous rakish figures—John Willoughby, Henry Crawford, and George Wickham—and explore each novel’s narrative handling of these men’s sexual transgressions. Rather than excoriate rakish behavior, Austen’s novels present these characters with various forgiving conclusions—conclusions that appear to promote sympathy toward men’s sexual missteps that are not afforded to women.

Rachel Gevlin is a Teaching Assistant Professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she teaches courses on 18th-century literature, literary theory, and women writers. Her book project explores representations of marital disunion in the 18th-century novel, and her writing on Austen has appeared or is forthcoming in English Literary History, Persuasions, and Persuasions On-Line. She has given many presentations on Austen to regional societies of JASNA across the country, and she was a breakout speaker at the 2023, 2024, and 2025 AGMs. In 2025, she received the JASNA IVP Fellowship to conduct research at Chawton, and she looks forward to sharing her research with the JASNA community.

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