To praise Jane Austen's novels only as stylistic masterpieces is to
strip them of the historical, cultural, and literary contexts that
might otherwise illuminate them. By focusing primarily on the
political, historical, satiric, actively intertextual, and deeply
sexualized text of Persuasion, Jocelyn Harris seeks to reconcile
the so-called insignificance of her content with her high canonical
status, for Austen's interactions with real and imagined worlds
prove her to be innovative, even revolutionary. This book answers
common assertions that Austen's content is restricted; that being
uneducated and a woman, she could only write unconsciously,
realistically, and autobiographically of what she knew; that her
national and sexual politics were reactionary; and that her novels
serve mainly as havens from reality. Such ideas arose from literal
readings of Austen's letters, the family's representation of her as
a gentle, unlearned genius, and the assumption that she could not
write about the Napoleonic Wars. Persuasion is, though, permeated
with references to war as well as peace. Harris suggests that
Persuasion may respond to Walter Scott's review of Emma, Austen's
correspondence with Fanny Knight, hostile reviews of Frances
Burney's The Wanderer, contemporary attacks on the novel, and her
own defense of fiction in Northanger Abbey. Self-critical in
revision, Austen calls on Byron, Shakespeare, Napoleon, and Cook to
modify wartime constructions of English masculinity such as
Southey's Nelson. Similarly, her critique of Scott's first three
novels confirms that her attitude toward class and gender is far
from reactionary. Persuasion reveals Austen's patriotism, her
pioneering lyricism, and her hopes for sexual equality. Although
like Turner she portrays Lyme as sublime and liminally open to
change, she attacks Bath, a city shadowed by mortality and
corruption, with a savage indignation characteristic of
contemporary satire. Persuasion sketches a society founded on merit
and distributive justice, its turn from woe to joy derived not so
much from her own life as from the seasonal resurrections of
Shakespeare's late tragicomedies, her religious beliefs, and the
nation's mixed grief and jubilee after Waterloo. Harris draws on
new information to argue that Austen is an outward looking,
intertextually aware, and remarkably self-conscious author.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
