Explains Austen's methods, motivations, and morals
The fun and easy way(r) to understand and enjoy Jane Austen
Want to know more about Jane Austen? This friendly guide gives the
scoop on her life, works, and lasting impact on our culture. It
chronicles the events of her brief life, examines each of her
novels, and looks at why her stories - of women and marriage, class
and money, scandal and hypocrisy, emotion and satire - still have
meaning for us today.
Discover
* Why Austen is so popular
* The impact on manners, courtships, and dating
* Love and life in Austen's world
* Her life and key influences
* Her most memorable characters
Autorentext
Joan Klingel Ray, PhD, is an English professor at the
University of Colorado. She has written articles for numerous
magazines and appeared on the A&E biography of Jane Austen.
Zusammenfassung
Explains Austen's methods, motivations, and morals
The fun and easy way(r) to understand and enjoy Jane Austen
Want to know more about Jane Austen? This friendly guide gives the scoop on her life, works, and lasting impact on our culture. It chronicles the events of her brief life, examines each of her novels, and looks at why her stories - of women and marriage, class and money, scandal and hypocrisy, emotion and satire - still have meaning for us today.
Discover
* Why Austen is so popular
* The impact on manners, courtships, and dating
* Love and life in Austen's world
* Her life and key influences
* Her most memorable characters
Inhalt
Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Conventions Used in This Book 2
What You're Not to Read 3
Foolish Assumptions 4
How This Book Is Organized 5
Part I: Getting to Know Jane Austen, Lady and Novelist 5
Part II: Austen Observes Ladies and Gentlemen 5
Part III: Living Life in Jane's World 6
Part IV: Enjoying Austen and Her Influence Today 6
Part V: The Part of Tens 6
Appendix 6
Icons Used in This Book 7
Where to Go from Here 7
Part I: Getting to Know Jane Austen, Lady and Novelist 9
Chapter 1: Introducing Jane Austen 11
Identifying the Lady Writer 12
Keeping a Personal Record 13
Getting Reviewed 13
Checking out the comments from the critics of her day 13
Glancing at later reviews 15
Listening to Austen's current readers 16
Getting Comfortable with Jane 16
Hearing the friendly, welcoming narrator 17
Hearing Jane, the friend become the witty, terse narrator 17
Delivering the Hollywood goods 18
Observing with Austen 20
Writing dialogue and conversation 20
Having an ear for a character's voice 21
Having an eye for details 21
Tracing Austen's Popularity 22
Starting the Saint Jane myth 22
Victorianizing Jane Austen 23
Taking Austen to the trenches 23
Taking Austen to school 24
Becoming Today's Janeite 25
Chapter 2: Visiting Jane Austen's Georgian World 27
Asserting Austen's Georgian-ness 27
Examining Austen's Georgian satire 29
Preferring candor over prudishness 30
Surveying the Political Landscape 31
Discerning Tories from Whigs 31
Anticipating trouble at home and across the channel 32
Sugaring tea from the slave trade 35
Understanding the Class System 37
Recognizing class 37
Defining condescension 42
Growing the Novel 43
Influencing the creation of the novel 44
Writing for middle-class readers and women 45
Chapter 3: Being Jane Austen (17751817) 47
Meeting the Austens 47
Introducing the Rev Mr and Mrs Austen 48
Getting to know Jane and her siblings 48
Growing Up Gentry: Jane's Formative Years 52
Living and learning at the rectory 53
Surviving boarding school 54
Getting bitten by the writing bug: Austen's Juvenilia 54
Becoming a Professional Writer 57
Beginning a life of letter writing 57
Experimenting with epistolary novels 58
Seeing the Personal Side of Jane 58
Having a sophisticated grown-up friend 59
Flirting with a new friend, Tom Lefroy 59
Remaining unmarried 60
Experiencing New Places, New Faces, New Feelings: Moving to Bath 63
Living and lulling in Bath 64
Accepting and rejecting a proposal 64
Losing a father and a friend 65
Relying on the kindness of sons and brothers 66
Exploring the Highs and Lows of Being a Writer 66
Getting published for the first time 67
Writing as a mature novelist 68
Succumbing to Illness 70
Seeking help in Winchester 71
Dying at age 41 71
Reacting to her death 72
Chapter 4: Inspiring the Aspiring Novelist 75
Growing Up in a Family of Novel Readers 75
Absorbing the style of The Book of Common Prayer 76
Jumping to Dr Johnson for instruction in morality and prose 76
Finding Shakespeare in Austen's constitution 77
Mining Milton 78
Learning from Drama 78
Presenting characters dramatically 79
Creating effective entrances 80
Rising Sentimentalism and Sensibility in Society 82
Austen's youthful reaction to sensibility 82
Austen's mature...