Biography of an English novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817)

Résumé du document

We studied Jane Austen as a romantic writer, although her interests lie outside the range of romantic elements. Jane Austen lived all her life (except for a few years) in the countryside. She started writing to entertain her family, she published 6 novels (their date does not correspond to the date of published). Before she was 25, she wrote:
- Sense and Sensibility
- Pride and Prejudice
- Northanger Abbey after she was 35:
- Emma
- Persuasion
There is only one change between the two periods, the brilliant irony of the early books gives way to a greater depth of feeling and thoughtfulness.

Extraits

[...] Was Jane Austen a true Romantic? Chronologically she belonged to the romantic period, but her interests were elsewhere. She was influenced by the 18-century writers (fielding, Addison and Richardson). These writers based their works on neutrality, education of the readers and values. She also only dealt with the restricted world of English provincial life, middle class landed gentry. She was not interested in the historical events of her time. Her world is without thrilling adventures, nor heroes. It is a world based on: → class distinction → decorum and room manners → reticence → urbanity (being polite) → rectitude. [...]

[...] Biography of an English novelist: Jane Austen (1775-1817) I. Life 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) We studied Jane Austen as a romantic writer, although her interests lie outside the range of romantic elements. Jane Austen lived all her life (except for a few years) in the countryside. She started writing to entertain her family, she published 6 novels (their date does not correspond to the date of published). Before she was 25, she wrote: → Sense and Sensibility → Pride and Prejudice → Northanger Abbey After she was 35: → Emma → Persuasion There is only one change between the two periods, the brilliant irony of the early books gives way to a greater depth of feeling and thoughtfulness. [...]

[...] Her presence is unobtrusive and delicate. She prefers dialogues to descriptions. Through dialogue the characters reveal themselves. Profound psychological study: Her main subjects are courtship and marriage; Jane Austen's novels show the restrictions of a woman's position in the 18th and 19th centuries, in which an unmarried woman was destined for the dull life of nursing elderly parents or looking after her relatives' children. Lack of sentimentality: feelings seem to be absent concealed under everyday rituals. At the heart of everything, however, there is marriage. [...]

[...] She lacked an overall vision of the historical and social events of her time: the major political events of the period, such as French and American Revolutions and the Napoleonic wars, do not appear in her novels, and neither do the problems caused by English urbanization and industrialization. She was not concerned with the literary movements and experiments of her time (Gothic novels, Romanticism): she indeed avoided any type of personal involvement. The world of her novels is restricted to provincial England. [...]