Visuality in the Novels of Austen, Radcliffe, Edgeworth and Burney

by Jessica A. Volz

Overview

Visuality in the Novels of Austen, Radcliffe, Edgeworth and Burney argues that the proliferation of visual codes, metaphors and references to the gaze in women’s novels published in Britain between 1778 and 1815 is more significant than scholars have previously acknowledged. The book’s innovative survey of the oeuvres of four culturally representative women novelists of the period spanning the Anglo-French War and the Battle of Waterloo reveals the importance of visuality – the continuum linking visual and verbal communication. It provided women novelists with a methodology capable of circumventing the cultural strictures on female expression in a way that concealed resistance within the limits of language. In contexts dominated by ‘frustrated utterance’, penetrating gazes and the perpetual threat of misinterpretation, Jane Austen, Ann Radcliffe, Maria Edgeworth and Frances Burney used references to the visible and the invisible to comment on emotions, socio-economic conditions and patriarchal abuses. Visuality in the Novels of Austen, Radcliffe, Edgeworth and Burney offers new insights into verbal economy and the gender politics of the era by reassessing expression and perception from a uniquely telling point of view.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785272530
Publisher:	Anthem Press
Publication date:	11/22/2019
Series:	Anthem Nineteenth-Century Series
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Dr Jessica A. Volz is an independent British literature scholar and international communications strategist whose research focuses on the forms and functions of visuality in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century women’s novels.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Caroline Jane Knight; Preface; Introduction: Visuality in Profile; 1. Jane Austen’s Aesthetic Vocabulary of Character; 2. Ann Radcliffe’s Gothic Reconstructions of Female Identity and Experience; 3. The Gendered Gaze and ‘Made-up’ Women in Maria Edgeworth’s 'Castle Rackrent', 'Ennui' and 'Belinda'; 4. Optical Allusions in Frances Burney’s 'Evelina' and 'The Wanderer'; Conclusion; Selected Bibliography; Index.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

‘This wonderful and scholarly book shows us with lively examples how women in the age of Jane Austen were allowed to perceive themselves and how four great women writers responded creatively and spiritually, through their use of the visual imagination in their writing. I read it with huge pleasure.’ —Edward Rutherfurd, bestselling author of Sarum, London, New York and Paris

‘We’ve long understood that late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century British culture was structured around seeing and being seen, but it’s taken Jessica Volz’s fine book to reveal how four famed women novelists of the era used visual patterns and cues to promote social change […] Visuality in the Novels of Austen, Radcliffe, Edgeworth and Burney is a compelling study of a surprisingly under-examined set of narrative patterns that have been hiding in plain sight.’—Devoney Looser, Foundation Professor of English, Arizona State University

Author interview with Dr Emma Whipday's 'At Home with Austen' video series

Editorial Reviews

Jane Austen Society of North America — Book Review

Forum for Modern Language Studies — Book Review

Eighteenth-Century Fiction

Jane Austen's World — Review

Jane Austen's World

SEL Studies in English Literature

19 Cents Blog

Volz's treatment of visuality's variant nature makes her work stand out in the larger body of critical work that explores how women novelists in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century responded to the culture of patriarchy in their writing. — Kropp, Colleen. Review of Visuality in the Novels of Austen, Radcliffe, Edgeworth and Burney, by Jessica A. Volz. Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 54 no. 2, 2021, p. 520-522. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/ecs.2021.0033.

'Volz looks at how these women novelists dealt with questions of gender politics, the Gothic imagination and other "optical allusions" – a compelling read.' 
—Jane Austen’s Regency World Magazine

‘Volz’s perceptive, careful analysis makes her book a valuable resource for readers of Austen, Radcliffe, Edgeworth, and Burney.’ 
—Claire Denelle Cowart, ‘Jane Austen Society of North America’, JASNA (Summer 2019).

'Jessica Volz makes an important contribution to the field of eighteenth-century gender studies. Finally, the "female gaze" is getting her due.'
—Dr Amanda Foreman, historian and bestselling author of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire

"This examination of Austen, Radcliffe, Edgeworth, and Burney in terms of the methods of visuality contained in their novels from a vision-centric (or vision-obsessed) period is a welcome contribution to the field of feminist novel studies in general and eighteenth-century novel studies in particular. Visuality focuses clearly on a diverse body of scholarship and offers sharp, thought-provoking close readings to create an appropriate depth and breadth of coverage." — Plante, Kelly. Review of Visuality in the Novels of Austen, Radcliffe, Edgeworth and Burney, vol. 32 no. 3, 2020, p. 515-517. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/article/752680."

"One can use Dr. Volz’s observations in analyzing other Austen characters on our own – Anne Elliot, Admiral and Mrs. Croft, and Henry Tilney, to mention a few. Austen scholars and Austen fans who have delved deeply into her characters’ lives and the history of Regency England will find this book fascinating and a useful reference in their libraries. — Vic Sanborn, https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2020/05/31/qa-with-dr-jessica-a-volz-author-of-visuality-in-the-novels-of-austen-radcliffe-edgeworth-and-burney/, accessed 09 June, 2020 "

A good starting point [...] for exploring this wide field of research. — Times Literary Supplement, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/visuality-in-the-novels-of-austen-radcliffe-edgeworth-and-burney-jessica-a-volz-ada-coghen/

From the Publisher