Jane Austen for dummies

Author(s)

• Ray, Joan Klingel

Bibliographic Information

Jane Austen for dummies

by Joan Klingel Ray

（--For dummies）

Wiley, c2006

Note

Includes 1 detachable plate

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Explains Austen's methods, motivations, and morals The fun and easy way(r) to understand and enjoy Jane Austen Want to know more about Jane Austen? This friendly guide gives the scoop on her life, works, and lasting impact on our culture. It chronicles the events of her brief life, examines each of her novels, and looks at why her stories - of women and marriage, class and money, scandal and hypocrisy, emotion and satire - still have meaning for us today. Discover * Why Austen is so popular * The impact on manners, courtships, and dating * Love and life in Austen's world * Her life and key influences * Her most memorable characters

Table of Contents

Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Conventions Used in This Book 2 What You're Not to Read 3 Foolish Assumptions 4 How This Book Is Organized 5 Part I: Getting to Know Jane Austen, Lady and Novelist 5 Part II: Austen Observes Ladies and Gentlemen 5 Part III: Living Life in Jane's World 6 Part IV: Enjoying Austen and Her Influence Today 6 Part V: The Part of Tens 6 Appendix 6 Icons Used in This Book 7 Where to Go from Here 7 Part I: Getting to Know Jane Austen, Lady and Novelist 9 Chapter 1: Introducing Jane Austen 11 Identifying the Lady Writer 12 Keeping a Personal Record 13 Getting Reviewed 13 Checking out the comments from the critics of her day 13 Glancing at later reviews 15 Listening to Austen's current readers 16 Getting Comfortable with "Jane" 16 Hearing the friendly, welcoming narrator 17 Hearing "Jane, the friend" become the witty, terse narrator 17 Delivering the Hollywood goods 18 Observing with Austen 20 Writing dialogue and conversation 20 Having an ear for a character's voice 21 Having an eye for details 21 Tracing Austen's Popularity 22 Starting the Saint Jane myth 22 Victorianizing Jane Austen 23 Taking Austen to the trenches 23 Taking Austen to school 24 Becoming Today's Janeite 25 Chapter 2: Visiting Jane Austen's Georgian World 27 Asserting Austen's Georgian-ness 27 Examining Austen's Georgian satire 29 Preferring candor over prudishness 30 Surveying the Political Landscape 31 Discerning Tories from Whigs 31 Anticipating trouble at home and across the channel 32 Sugaring tea from the slave trade 35 Understanding the Class System 37 Recognizing class 37 Defining "condescension" 42 Growing the Novel 43 Influencing the creation of the novel 44 Writing for middle-class readers and women 45 Chapter 3: Being Jane Austen (1775-1817) 47 Meeting the Austens 47 Introducing the Rev Mr and Mrs Austen 48 Getting to know Jane and her siblings 48 Growing Up Gentry: Jane's Formative Years 52 Living and learning at the rectory 53 Surviving boarding school 54 Getting bitten by the writing bug: Austen's "Juvenilia" 54 Becoming a Professional Writer 57 Beginning a life of letter writing 57 Experimenting with epistolary novels 58 Seeing the Personal Side of Jane 58 Having a sophisticated grown-up friend 59 Flirting with a new friend, Tom Lefroy 59 Remaining unmarried 60 Experiencing New Places, New Faces, New Feelings: Moving to Bath 63 Living and lulling in Bath 64 Accepting and rejecting a proposal 64 Losing a father and a friend 65 Relying on the kindness of sons and brothers 66 Exploring the Highs and Lows of Being a Writer 66 Getting published for the first time 67 Writing as a mature novelist 68 Succumbing to Illness 70 Seeking help in Winchester 71 Dying at age 41 71 Reacting to her death 72 Chapter 4: Inspiring the Aspiring Novelist 75 Growing Up in a Family of Novel Readers 75 Absorbing the style of The Book of Common Prayer 76 Jumping to Dr Johnson for instruction in morality and prose 76 Finding Shakespeare in Austen's "constitution" 77 Mining Milton 78 Learning from Drama 78 Presenting characters dramatically 79 Creating effective entrances 80 Rising Sentimentalism and Sensibility in Society 82 Austen's youthful reaction to sensibility 82 Austen's mature reaction to sensibility 83 Sensing Sensibility in Samuel Richardson 83 Developing the epistolary novel 84 Austen's inheritance from Richardson 85 Austen's departure from Richardson 85 Maturing the Novel with Henry Fielding 86 Reading Fanny Burney 87 Being Influenced By Real People 87 Meeting an exotic "French" cousin 88 Running across other memorable personalities 88 Bringing It All Together: The Genius of Jane Austen 89 Creating living, breathing characters 89 Setting her characters in society 90 Part II: Austen Observes Ladies and Gentlemen 91 Chapter 5: Practicing the Politics of Dancing 93 Looking for Love on the Dance Floor 94 Rolling up the rugs to dance at home 94 Attending formal balls 95 Facing the challenges of dancing 102 Finding a Desirable Dance Partner (Possibly for Life!) 103 Getting help from the Master of Ceremonies 103 Taking a turn with family and friends 104 Putting Those Childhood Dance Lessons to Good Use 105 Dancing up the set 106 Knowing other popular dances 107 Observing dancing etiquette 107 Having fun under a watchful chaperone's eye 109 Amusing the Non-Dancers: Finding the Card and Tea Rooms 110 Chapter 6: Playing the Dating Game: Courtship, Austen Style 113 Defining Eligibility 113 "Coming Out" as a Young Lady 114 Identifying the eligible gentlemen 118 Getting to Know Each Other 119 The courtship do's of Austen's day 120 The don'ts (unless done on the sly) 121 Mastering the Fine Art of Flirting 124 "Looking" the feelings of love 125 Reading and misreading body language 126 Speaking the language of love 126 Getting Engaged (Finally!) 127 Making the proposal 127 Securing father's approval 128 Exchanging gifts 129 Breaking an engagement 129 Chapter 7: Marrying: A Serious Business for Jane Austen and Her Characters 131 Exploring the Main Motivations for Marrying 132 Landing a loving husband with a sizeable estate 132 Choosing a willing wife with a decent dowry 136 Understanding why some folks (including Austen) broke with tradition 138 Coming to Terms 140 Drawing up the marriage settlement or articles 141 Arranging for a jointure 142 Sealing the Deal 142 Choosing the wedding clothes and coach 142 Announcing the nuptials 143 Sharing the big day with family and friends 145 Eloping to Gretna Green and avoiding the whole thing 145 Taking the honeymoon 146 Breaching the Agreement: Facing the Shame of Divorce 147 Chapter 8: Wily Females and Seductive Males 149 Working with What You've Got to Get Your Man 150 Capturing a husband with "youth and beauty" 150 Using beauty and trickery when you don't have youth 152 Flirting Your Way to a Husband - Hopefully 152 Flirting and failing 154 Witnessing unconscious flirting 155 Mistaken flirting 156 Dealing with Dangerous Men 156 Seducing for the thrill of it 156 Seducing for money 158 Winning a Spouse with Honesty 158 Part III: Living Life in Jane's World 161 Chapter 9: Looking at Ladies' Limited Rights and Roles 163 Living as a Lady in a Gentleman's World 164 Limiting the lady's life by law 164 Belonging to daddy 165 Relying on the kindness of brothers 166 Protecting the unmarried, brotherless gentlewoman 167 Becoming an "Accomplished" Lady 167 Defining the "accomplished woman" 168 Attending a seminary in the city 168 Going to boarding school 169 Having a governess 170 Learning ad hoc at home (or not) 171 Training a lady 171 Placing Austen in the Women's Movement 172 Austen's advocating the rational female 172 Aligning Jane Austen with Mary Wollstonecraft 173 Assessing the Single Gentlewoman's Single Occupation 174 Chapter 10: Being a Man in a Man's World 177 Being a Gentleman's Son 177 Training to a be a gentleman in boyhood 178 Beginning a more formal education 179 Heading to Eton or another "public" school 179 Gaining an "OxBridge" degree 181 Taking the Grand Tour 182 Inheriting Property 183 Respecting primogeniture 183 Disentangling the entail 185 Being the Eldest Son 186 Enjoying an elder brother's "rights" 186 Training to run the estate 188 Supporting Younger Sons of Gentlemen 189 Finding a genteel profession 189 Marrying into money 191 Pinch-hitting for older brother 192 Meeting the New Gentleman in a Rising Middle Class 192 Moving up as a businessman 193 Being a gentleman through manners and education 194 Chapter 11: Experiencing Life at Home in Austen's Day 195 Living in a Country House 195 Touring country houses 196 Picking up Austen's hints about a modern-built house 200 Keeping the country house running 201 Taking on the Responsibilities of the Lady of the House 203 Overseeing the country house 204 Raising the children 205 Being a Gentleman Farmer 206 Improving the estate, or not 206 Raising the children 207 Aiding the church 207 Hosting one's guests 207 Entering Parliament 208 Participating in local government 209 Evening Entertainment 209 Dining with guests 210 Playing cards 210 Reading and writing 211 Chatting with family and friends 212 Listening to music 212 Dancing at home 213 Traveling Away from Home 213 Showing that you are what you drive 214 Austen's showing that you are what you drive 219 Chapter 12: Minding Your Manners 221 Making a Gentleman 222 Training an English gentleman 222 Assessing Austen's gentlemen heroes 223 Training a Lady in Her Duty: Pleasing Her Man 227 Ignoring the prescription of Dr Fordyce 227 Undermining Dr Gregory's advice 228 Knowing Your Place and Rank 230 Honoring rank when entering a room 230 Ranking people in your speech 231 Remembering rank in introductions and greetings 232 Conversing pleasantly and politely 235 Exposing Bad Manners 236 Listening to the ungrammatical and the insecure 236 Discerning the liars through their charming manners 237 Chapter 13: Following Religion and Morality for Jane Austen and Her Times 239 Shaping Anglicanism 239 Forming the Church of England 240 Altering Anglicanism by Austen's day 241 Assessing Austen's Anglicanism 243 Reviewing Austen's Clerical Characters 244 Serving Up the Seven Deadly Sins 246 Pride: Thinking you're the cat's meow 247 Greed: Wanting it all (and then some) 248 Lust: Failing parents of fallen daughters 249 Anger: Forgetting to hold your tongue 250 Gluttony: Tipping the scales 251 Envy: Casting a jealous eye 251 Sloth: Being a bad parent 252 Outweighing the Bad by Doing Good 253 Part IV: Enjoying Austen and Her Influence Today 255 Chapter 14: Reading Jane Austen 257 Reading Northanger Abbey 257 Knowing the background 258 Linking Northanger Abbey to Udolpho 258 Watching Catherine learn 258 Hearing the narrator's irony in Northanger Abbey 259 Reading Sense and Sensibility 260 Erring with either sense or sensibility 260 Seeing other characters' sense and/or sensibility 262 Reading Pride and Prejudice 263 Getting past the first line of the novel 263 Determining who's proud and who's prejudiced 263 Understanding Mr Collins 264 Reading Mansfield Park 265 Dealing with abusive behavior 265 Accepting a passive heroine 266 Hearing a very intrusive narrator 266 Reading Emma 266 Attending to the first line and first paragraph of the novel 267 Bringing in Mrs Elton 267 Reading Persuasion 268 Meeting "Only Anne" 269 Facing reader frustration 269 Discussing Austen's Novels 270 General questions 271 Discussing Northanger Abbey 271 Discussing Sense and Sensibility 272 Discussing Pride and Prejudice 272 Discussing Mansfield Park 273 Discussing Emma 274 Discussing Persuasion 274 Chapter 15: Bringing Austen Novels to Stage, Screen, and Television 277 Assessing Austen's Adaptability 277 Creating attractive and admirable heroines 278 Finding ready-made dialogue in the novel 279 Looking for courtesy in an increasingly impolite world 280 Watching costume drama to experience armchair travel 280 Dealing with difficulties in adapting Austen 281 Checking Out Austen Adaptations 283 Seeing villains in Northanger Abbey 283 Scoping Sense and Sensibility 284 Perpetuating Pride and Prejudice 286 Moving to Mansfield Park 287 Getting clues about Emma 288 Performing Persuasion 289 "Inventing" Austen's Life On Screen 290 Chapter 16: Determining Austen's Literary Descendents 291 Influencing Later Canonical Writers 292 Looking at some of Austen's novelizing heirs 293 Sequelizing Austen's Novels 296 Finishing Austen without Austen 297 Attributing "chick lit" to Austen 298 Appropriating Austen in Popular Culture 300 Part V: The Part of Tens 301 Chapter 17: Ten Most Memorable Austen Characters 303 Austen's Most Memorable Child 303 Austen's Most Memorable Leading Lady 304 Austen's Most Memorable Leading Man 304 Austen's Most Memorable Female Flirts 305 Austen's Most Memorable Cad 305 Austen's Most Memorable Dupe 306 Austen's Most Memorable Talker 307 Austen's Most Memorable Couple 307 Austen's Most Memorable Abnormal Personality 308 Chapter 18: Ten Best Austen-Related Books (Besides This One!) 309 Checking Out the Relatives' Writings 309 Opening Austen's Letters 311 Following the Austen Family's History 312 Sailing Away with Austen - or at Least Her Brothers! 312 Creating a Dinner Austen Would Be Proud of - and Probably Ate! 313 Kicking Back with Jane Austen 313 Chapter 19: Ten Best Austen Places to Visit 315 The British Library at St Pancras, London 315 No 10 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden 316 Jane Austen's House Museum in Chawton 317 St Nicholas Church and the Chawton House Library 317 Steventon 318 Winchester Cathedral 319 No 8 College Street, Winchester 319 Bath 320 Portsmouth Harbor 321 Lyme Regis 321 Chapter 20: Ten Best Austenisms (and What They Mean) 323 Speaking for the Homebodies 323 Acknowledging Differences 324 Expressing Sympathetic Understanding 324 Embarrassing Moments 325 Revealing Wrongs with Subtle Ease 325 Ending on a Happy Note 326 Seeking Good Fortune - Big Bucks, That Is 326 Making Sure Money Isn't Everything 327 Watching Your Step 327 Trusting the Right People 327 Appendix: Jane Austen Chronology 329 Index 341

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

• NCID: BA89477823
• ISBN:
  • 9780470008294
• LCCN: 2006926126
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Hoboken, N.J.
• Pages/Volumes: xviii, 361 p.
• Size: 24 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : PR4036
  • DC22 : 823/.7
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Austen, Jane, 1775-1817.
  • LCSH : Novelists, English -- 19th century -- Biography
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA22893377