Eighteenth-century influences on Jane Austen's early fiction

Author(s)

Nadya Q. Chishty-Mujahid, Institute of Business Administration

Files

Abstract / Description

This text examines how the Gothic writing of Ann Radcliffe and the eighteenth-century novels of Fanny Barney helped to shape and hone Jane Austen’s own eighteenth century literary endeavors. It specifically focuses on Austen’s early works Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, and Sense and Sensibility, all of which were conceived and shaped during the last decade of the 1700’s. It closely follows the manner in which Austen eschewed the popular epistolary genre in favour of the novel-form, how she mastered the parodic-Gothic form, and created characters that while uniquely hers owed a great deal to the late-eighteenth century English milieu of which they have become major cultural elements.

Keywords

Satirical humour, Sensibility, Historicist, Socio-historical forces, Epistolary

Table of Contents

Foreword by Eman El-Meligi -------------------------------------------------------------------- i

Acknowledgements -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iii

Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1

Section I: The Emotional Damsel’s Dreamscape in Ann Radcliffe’s The Romance of the Forest ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17

Section II: Jane Austen’s Eighteenth-Century Heroines: Comparisons, Contrasts, and Clarifications in Sense and Sensibility ------------------------------------------------- 45

Section III: Parodic Gothic and Comic Evil: Austen’s Eighteenth-Century Attempts at Satirical Humour ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 69

Conclusion ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 89

Bibliography --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 99

Index ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 105

Publication Date

2013

Faculty / School

Faculty of Business Administration (FBA)

Department

Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts

Was this content written or created while at IBA?

Yes

Author Affiliation

• Dr. Nadya Q. Chishty Mujahid is Assistant Professor at Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi.

Recommended Citation

Chishty-Mujahid, N. Q. (2013). Eighteenth-century influences on Jane Austen's early fiction. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/faculty-research-books/30