Jane Austen among Women

by Deborah Kaplan

Overview

Originally published in 1992. In an age when genteel women wrote little more than personal letters, how did Jane Austen manage to become a novelist? Was she an isolated genius who rose to fame through sheer talent? Did she draw strength from the support of her family or from women writers who went before her? In Jane Austen among Women, Deborah Kaplan argues that these explanations are either misleading or insufficient. Austen, Kaplan contends, participated actively in a women's culture that promoted female authority and achievement—a culture that not only helped her become a novelist but also influenced her fiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421433462
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	258
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Deborah Kaplan is associate professor of English at George Mason University.

Deborah Kaplan is associate professor of English at George Mason University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I: Divided Loyalties
Chapter 1. Genteel Domesticity
Chapter 2. Compliant Women
Chapter 3. The Women's Culture
Part II: Portraits of the Woman Writer
Chapter 4. Circles of Support
Chapter 5. Assuming Spinsterhood
Part III: Representing Two Cultures
Chapter 6. The Juvenilia: Convenient Ambiguities
Chapter 7. The "Middle" Fictions: Visible Conflicts
Chapter 8. Pride and Prejudice: Cultural Duality and Feminist Literary Criticism
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Jane Austen Among Women is a stimulating new reading of Austen's life and work. The tone is balanced and authoritative, the style is graceful and sometimes engagingly humorous, and the approach is fresh, challenging, and very illuminating.
—Juliet McMaster, University of Alberta

Juliet McMaster

Jane Austen Among Women is a stimulating new reading of Austen's life and work. The tone is balanced and authoritative, the style is graceful and sometimes engagingly humorous, and the approach is fresh, challenging, and very illuminating.

Editorial Reviews

Drawing on personal papers, many unpublished, argues that English novelist Austen (1775-1817) drew strength from a circle of women who, though accepting the dominant patriarchy, created a separate society for themselves. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Kaplan builds a convincing picture of Austen's own women's culture, and her mode of argument is unusually vivid, subtle, and sesnitive.
—Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher

Kaplan builds a convincing picture of Austen's own women's culture, and her mode of argument is unusually vivid, subtle, and sesnitive.

Times Literary Supplement