Jane Austen’s Novels and the Contemporary Social and Literary Conventions.
Content Page:
Content Page: 2
Introduction 3 3 1.Eighteenth-Century Conduct Literature 4
1.1. The Introduction to Conduct Manuals 4
1.2. Patriarchy in Conduct Literature 4
1.3. The Private Sphere as Woman’s Domain. 5
1.4. Characteristics of ideal female features 6
1.5. Conduct Manuals and the Novels 9
2. Romantic Novels. 11
2.1. Introduction to the Novel. 11
2.2. The Novel of Manners, Sentiment and Emulation. 12
2.3 The Gothic Romance. 13
3. Jane Austen and Her Novels in relation to the Contemporary Literature. 15
3.1. Austen’s Criticism about the Contemporary Fiction. 15
3.2. Jane Austen as a Conservative Writer and as a Social Critic. 16
3.3. Austen’s writing in her own perception. 17
4. Pride and Prejudice. 20
4.1. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy – the Reversed Ideals. 20 22
5. Emma 23
5.1. Emma the heroine. 23
5.2. Men of sense and silly wives 26 5.3. Emma as the unusual learning. 28
Conclusions 30
Bibliography: 31
Introduction The end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, both in literature and in everyday life aspects, can be characterized by a great deal of conventions and rules. The social conventions, in particular those concerning life of a young woman, were presented in conduct manuals. Many of these conventions were supported by plenty literary authors, who made their protagonists basing on the ideal image of woman which was shown in the conduct books. Moreover, the authors created their own way of writing, which was supposed to focus, by and large, only on the positive aspects of the character, making he or she a role model to be emulated by the reader. Jane Austen, being a highly regarded author at that time, created a specific style of writing, which was negotiating with the existing conventions in many aspects. Her novels, which already had gained a considerable popularity among her contemporaries, are the attempts to present protagonists, which are neither the role models, nor they
Content Page: 2
Introduction 3 3 1.Eighteenth-Century Conduct Literature 4
1.1. The Introduction to Conduct Manuals 4
1.2. Patriarchy in Conduct Literature 4
1.3. The Private Sphere as Woman’s Domain. 5
1.4. Characteristics of ideal female features 6
1.5. Conduct Manuals and the Novels 9
2. Romantic Novels. 11
2.1. Introduction to the Novel. 11
2.2. The Novel of Manners, Sentiment and Emulation. 12
2.3 The Gothic Romance. 13
3. Jane Austen and Her Novels in relation to the Contemporary Literature. 15
3.1. Austen’s Criticism about the Contemporary Fiction. 15
3.2. Jane Austen as a Conservative Writer and as a Social Critic. 16
3.3. Austen’s writing in her own perception. 17
4. Pride and Prejudice. 20
4.1. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy – the Reversed Ideals. 20 22
5. Emma 23
5.1. Emma the heroine. 23
5.2. Men of sense and silly wives 26 5.3. Emma as the unusual learning. 28
Conclusions 30
Bibliography: 31
Introduction The end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, both in literature and in everyday life aspects, can be characterized by a great deal of conventions and rules. The social conventions, in particular those concerning life of a young woman, were presented in conduct manuals. Many of these conventions were supported by plenty literary authors, who made their protagonists basing on the ideal image of woman which was shown in the conduct books. Moreover, the authors created their own way of writing, which was supposed to focus, by and large, only on the positive aspects of the character, making he or she a role model to be emulated by the reader. Jane Austen, being a highly regarded author at that time, created a specific style of writing, which was negotiating with the existing conventions in many aspects. Her novels, which already had gained a considerable popularity among her contemporaries, are the attempts to present protagonists, which are neither the role models, nor they
Bibliography: Bradbury, Malcolm. ”Jane Austen: Emma”. The new Pelican Guide to English Literature vol.5. Ed. Boris Ford. Penguin Books, 1982, 172-195 Dobosiewicz, Ilona Gilbert, Sandra, Gubar, Susan The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2000 Kelly, Gary Waldron, Mary. Jane Austen and the fiction of her time. Cambridge University Press, 1999 Internet Sources: "Austen, Jane." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 24 May 2008 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-476>. "novel of manners." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 24 May 2008 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9050580>. “novel" Encyclopedia Britannica. 2003. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 23 May 2008 http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-51001 “novel." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2003. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.23 May 2008 http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-50999