Generations of readers and movie viewers have been drawn to the spirited heroines of DEGREESUSense and Sensibility " and DEGREESUEmma." Prepared especially for students, this full-length critical study of Jane Austen covers her six most beloved works, including the two novels DEGREESUNorthanger Abbey" and DEGREESUPersuasion, "published posthumously. Young readers will enjoy the vivid biographical account of how Austen herself was just a teenager when she took up the pen and began to write in guarded secrecy. Austen scholar Debra Teachman has a historian's eye for detail as she describes Austen's homelife in the English countryside and the social environment that were so much a part of Austen's stories. Teachman examines each novel, relating how historical context influenced the characters, events and themes that Austen developed. Teachman eloquently points out, for example, that while Austen does not overtly preach feminism in any of her novels, the lack of legal protection for women is a vital societal theme in DEGREESUSense and Sensibility. "Her discussion of the economic realities at the core of Austen's novels will help readers appreciate that works like the best-selling "Pride and Prejudice" are more than just charming stories.

In addition to analyzing the literary elements in each work of fiction by Jane Austen, this Companion also gives students an overview of Austen's literary heritage. Discussing first the novel itself as a genre, this useful chapter then identifies each sub-genre that influenced Austen: epistolary writing, the adventure novel, the gothic form, and Women's Rights novels. An extensive bibliography directs readers to biographical materials, historical documents, reviews, criticism and numerous other accessible sources that will enhance their further study of Austen's writings. For students of classic fiction, this well written critical study aids in the enjoyment and understanding of the life and works of Jane Austen.

Immediately popular when published over a century and a half ago, "Jane Eyre" has continued to find appreciative audiences since. This student casebook offers a unique interdisciplinary approach to the study of Charlotte Bronte's landmark novel. While it gives insightful literary analysis, it also contextualizes the novel in terms of the historical social issues it confronts. Expert commentary is supported with primary documents from legal and medical treatises, magazine articles, letters, essays and first hand accounts. A personal biography written by Elizabeth Gaskell, an acquaintance of Bronte, offers a detailed account of the Cowan Bridge School which Charlotte attended and fictionalized in "Jane Eyre."

Educators will find ideas for teaching these topics and for helping students see the connections between the novel and the social concerns it raises. Devoted to close examination of such topics as the diagnosis and treatment of madness and inheritance and marriage law and custom, this work will help students to understand historical cultural influences of yesterday. Contemporary issues such as education and mental illness raised by "Jane Eyre" are also discussed. Each section offers valuable ideas for written and oral exploration including role playing, debates, and journal writing assignments. Chapters conclude with suggestions for further reading.

This is the only book about Pride and Prejudice to combine both analysis of the novel and excerpts from significant primary documents of Austen's own time. These materials will help the reader to understand the complexities of both the novel and English society at the beginning of the 19th century, and to compare those issues to contemporary society. Teachman provides commentary and primary materials on inheritance, marriage, and women's roles in society at the time of Austen's life. Excerpts from 18th- and 19th-century etiquette books, moral treatises, histories of women, legal documents and commentary, newspapers, magazines, and collections of letters provide evidence of the social and legal differences between Austen's time and our own--enabling the reader to understand the legal, historical, social, and cultural context of the novel. Each section of this casebook contains study questions, topics for research papers and class discussions, and lists of further reading for examining the issues raised by the novel. The plot of Pride and Prejudice turns on three aspects of early 19th-century English society: marriage as a social institution, inheritance laws and customs, and acceptable roles for women. Following a literary analysis of the novel, the casebook contains documents and commentary on the following topics: inheritance and marriage laws and customs, 18th-century views on marriage, the status of unmarried women, women's education and moral training, and issues in the 1980s and 1990s that can be contrasted with those in the novel. These documents illustrate the social and legal differences between Austen's time and our own that enable the reader to fully understand the archaicdetails of the novel. They also indicate the continuities between Austen's time and ours in their emphases on love, marriage, the importance of property, and arguments about the role of women. Among the documents are excerpts from Samuel Johnson, Daniel Defoe, William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, advice from a mother to her absent daughters, and a number of letters on the "proper" role of women, their education, and moral training. The final chapter of this book brings into focus the relevancies of Austen's fiction to present day readers and provides discussion of many of the issues of the novel as they are handled by law and the media at the end of the 20th century. This is an ideal companion for teacher use and student research in interdisciplinary, English history, and English literature courses.