Jane Austen and Discourses of Feminism

by Devoney Looser (Editor)

Overview

In recent decades the vision of Austen as a subversive or rebellious author has appeared most forcefully in the varied scholarship of feminist literary critics. Some feminists have fashioned an Austen more closely linked to what Juliet Mitchell has called 'The Longest Revolution' (the women's movement) than to the French Revolution; others have vehemently disagreed. Jane Austen and Discourses of Feminism involves - among other things - a reassessment of these versions of Austen's relationship to feminisms. By foregrounding issues of artistic merit, genre, and history, many literary critics have effectively ignored issues of gender in their studies of Austen; feminist scholarship provided an important corrective. On the other hand, some feminist criticism, although it approached Austen's texts in innovative ways, gave short shrift to issues of history, literary genre, social context, or artistry. This volume aims implicitly and explicitly to recap second-wave feminist attention to Austen and to suggest new directions that criticism on Austen might take.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312123673
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	10/12/1995
Edition description:	1995
Pages:	197
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

DEVONEY LOOSER is the author of British Women Writers and the Writing of History (2000) and the editor of Generations: Academic Feminists in Dialogue (1997). She is assistant professor at Louisiana State University and is a member of the board of directors of the Jane Austen Society of North America.

Table of Contents

Introduction; D.Looser - Jane Austen, Romantic Feminism, and Civil Society; G.Kelly - The Marriage Plot in Austen: Questions of Persistence; L.Mooneyham - Privacy, Privilege, and Poaching in Mansfield Park; E.Gardiner - Pride and Prejudice, Feminist Theory, and the Recapitulation of Unequal Gender Relations; B.Hain, B.Craven, G.Brunner & C.Andre - Jane Austen and the Burden of the (Male) Past: The Case Reexamined; J.Harris - Austen's Handling of Endogamous Unions; G.A.Hudson - 'The Different Sorts of Friendship': Desire in Mansfield Park; M.G.Anderson - Austen, Gender, and Genre; C.Siskin

Editorial Reviews

'Including essays by some of the most stimulating specialists in the novel and the 'new' literary period, 1770-1830, this provocative, sometimes daring, collection will quickly become required reading for all engaged with applications of feminist theories, with women in the literary marketplace, and, of course, with Jane Austen.' Paula Backscheider

From the Publisher

Grappling with literary theoretical innovations concerning gender, genre, nationalism, class, and sexuality, the 10 essays collected here deliver no final verdict on whether Austen was a feminist. Instead, they look at the links between her writings and feminist discourses, in both her time and our own. Essays are divided into three sections: changing histories, critical re-examinations, and feminist discourses in dialogue. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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