Jane Austen's Women: An Introduction

322 Pages·2018·1.899 MB·English

by  Kathleen Anderson

J aWne oAmusteenn’s

Kathleen Anderson
J a n e Aust
e
n
’
s

Women

A n Introduction
SUNY
P R E S S
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2018 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval
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For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Anderson, Kathleen, 1967– author.
Title: Jane Austen’s women : an introduction / Kathleen Anderson.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, 2018. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017061602 | ISBN 9781438472256 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781438472263 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438472270 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Austen, Jane, 1775–1817—Characters. | Austen, Jane,
1775–1817—Criticism and interpretation. | Women in literature.
Classification: LCC PR4038.C47 A63 2018 | DDC 823/.7—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017061602
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xiii
Preface
“Nobody doubts her right to have precedence”:
Jane Austen’s Heroine as Universal Subject xv
Part 1
Women and the Body: Strength, Sex,
and Austenian Wellness
Chapter 
“I am strong enough now to walk very well”:
Vigor and Femininity in Mansfield Park 3
Chapter 
“I always deserve the best treatment, because I never
put up with any other”: Sexual Orthodoxy and the
Quest for the Best Mate 29
Part 2
Women’s Natures: Mood, Mind, Spirit,
and Female Giftedness
Chapter 
“Determined to Be Happy”: The Path to Emotional Health
in Sense and Sensibility 65
Jordan L. Von Cannon, Co-author
Chapter 
“Ingenious or Stupid?”: Women’s Intelligences, according
to “the most unlearned and uninformed female who ever
dared to be an authoress” 85
Chapter 
“Born to Be Connected”: Female Monasticism and
Vocation in Austen’s Novels 115
Part 3
Women and Others: The Female Self in Environmental,
Social, and Imaginative Space
Chapter 
“Mamma says I am never within”: Heroines’ Eco-affinities
as Identityscapes 151
Chapter 
“What is the foolish girl about?”: Austen’s Feminist Fools
Speak Out 185
Chapter 
“Unpropitious for Heroism”: Female Greatness in the
Austenian Imagination 217
vi / Contents
Notes 231
Works Cited 269
Index 285
Contents / vii

Acknowledgments
I
am grateful to all the people who have contributed to this book
and who have enriched my life in diverse ways.
The dedicated work for many years of librarians Nerolie
Ceus and Julia Pichette made this book possible.
I wish to thank Susan E. Jones and Susan Allen Ford for their
critical input as well as longtime mentorship and encouragement.
Jordan L. Von Cannon generously co-authored the essay
that has become chapter 3.
Thank you to editorial assistants Katie Barriga and C. Dale
Girardi Shaw and research assistants Kelsey Satalino and Chris-
topher Jensen for providing valuable feedback and account-
ability that were instrumental to my completion of this study.
Thanks as well to Father Charles Browning for consultation on
Anglican history and to him, David Lashbrook, and Carla Yar-
brough—former English Department work-study students—for
their assistance with the early research stage. Thanks to Jessica
Redman for consultation on psychology.
I appreciate the generous support of Palm Beach Atlantic
University, the administration, and the Faculty Research Commit-
tee for the sabbatical and course load reductions that provided
essential time for research and writing.
Thank you to my colleagues for their ongoing support,
especially Susan E. Jones and Jenifer Elmore, for helpful and
ix