| Jane Austen and the Morality of Conversation First Edition, Edition Contributor(s): Tandon, Bharat (Author) |
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ISBN: 1843311011 ISBN-13: 9781843311010 Publisher: Anthem Press OUR PRICE: $109.25 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: March 2003 Annotation: In this dynamic new work, combining intellectual history and literary stylistics, Bharat Tandon confronts traditional "ethical" readings of Austen s novels that examine product over process. Reading Austen against the eighteenth-century culture of polite conversation, Tandon proposes that contemporary literature revealed cracks and faultlines in this regimented ideal of socially-binding politeness, and that Austen s style is an active reflection upon these historical circumstances.In examining how concepts such as flirtation - the "twists" and "spins" that Elizabeth and Darcy, for example, put on the shared currency of language and decorum - Tandon explores how Austen s style not only reflects, but performs her ideas: rather than finding Austen s focus on social surfaces to be a stylistic weakness, this book finds that "Austen s surface is intimate with her depths." |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Women Authors - Literary Criticism | English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh |
| Dewey: 823.7 |
| LCCN: 2004401265 |
| Series: Anthem Nineteenth Century Studies |
| Physical Information: 0.75" H x 6.14" W x 9.21" (1.39 lbs) 305 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - British Isles - Sex & Gender - Feminine |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This important study investigates how Austen worked with, and played upon, the cracks and faultlines which time had uncovered in the ideals of polite conversation. In a wide-ranging argument combining intellectual history and literary stylistics, Bharat Tandon explores such activities as flirtation and ventriloquism, in order to show how a form of conversational morality is what Austen's novels both describe and set out to achieve. At the same time, he surveys readers' reactions to Austen, from the nineteenth century to the present day, in order to investigate the possibilities and limitations of 'ethical' criticism. Written in a lively and accessible style, Jane Austen and the Morality of Conversation offers a re-evaluation of Austen's career that will be of interest to scholars and general readers alike. |
