This thesis aims essentially at a re-evaluation of the marginalisation that conventional critical
assessment makes of Jane Austen's epistolary novella 'Lady Susan' (1794-1795). The consensus within
Austen studies, one that has largely been unchanged and unchallenged since the time of the first
professional academic accounts of Austen's work (and in turn influenced by the C19 view of the writer)
is that 'Lady Susan' is an artistic failure, a regressive step in Austen's stylistic development and, most
fundamentally, that its epistolarity is a constraint on the technical progress that Austen appeared to be
making in work prior to this, most notably, the unfinished third-person novella "Catharine, or The
Bower". The thesis provides a close reading of 'Lady Susan' and of 'Catharine' and in marked opposition
to the consensus, concludes that 'Lady Susan' is an emphatic step forward in Austen's stylistic progress,
most particularly through the manner in which it establishes a moral framework from within which to
develop character and plot, its attainment of incipient narrative voice through a complex use and
exploitation of epistolary polyphony (thereby foreshadowing the omniscient third-person narrators of
Austen's mature fiction, in addition to its experimentation with a form of free indirect speech) and the
markedly plausible realism that is present throughout the novella. Austen's termination of the epistolary
section (the novella being concluded in third-person narrative - an ending that was added some time later
and which is generally viewed as her own recognition of epistolary limitation), in the view of this thesis,
therefore cannot be attributed to stylistic inadequacy or constraint, and obliges other motives to be
posited. The thesis then proceeds to move from text into context and assesses the extra-literary factors
that may have prompted Austen's abandonment of the epistolary section, according a co-centrality to the
character of Catherine that has never before been emphasised in Austen studies and the consequences of
which suggest the writer’s political engagement with “the French Question”, and with political concerns
in general, at an age that is far earlier than most critics usually accept (‘Lady Susan’ was written when
Austen was 19). Beyond the text itself, our close assessment of a broad range of critical views (both on
‘Catharine’ and ‘Lady Susan’) lead us to posit that the critical insistence on the novella’s inferiority and
regressiveness, both of which claims we strongly refute through our close reading of the text, in fact
corresponds to a determinedly evolutionary manner of understanding novelistic development, on that in
turn derives from Ian Watt’s account of the rise of this literary form. In accordance with standard
academic procedure, the thesis begins with a critical review—in this case, of epistolary studies—
including studies that monographically consider Austen’s work. It also considers the role of Austen’s
private correspondence in the broader question of literary epistolarity. The thesis terminates by adding to
its conclusion the obligatory outlines of what we deem to be valid and necessary further research into
this subject and related issues.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TDX_UAB/oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/32178 |
| Date | 06 February 2006 |
| Creators | Owen, David |
| Contributors | Monnickendam, Andrew, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Filologia Anglesa i de Germanística |
| Publisher | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| Source Sets | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
| Format | 323 p., application/pdf |
| Source | TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa) |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoAccess, ADVERTIMENT. L'accés als continguts d'aquesta tesi doctoral i la seva utilització ha de respectar els drets de la persona autora. Pot ser utilitzada per a consulta o estudi personal, així com en activitats o materials d'investigació i docència en els termes establerts a l'art. 32 del Text Refós de la Llei de Propietat Intel·lectual (RDL 1/1996). Per altres utilitzacions es requereix l'autorització prèvia i expressa de la persona autora. En qualsevol cas, en la utilització dels seus continguts caldrà indicar de forma clara el nom i cognoms de la persona autora i el títol de la tesi doctoral. No s'autoritza la seva reproducció o altres formes d'explotació efectuades amb finalitats de lucre ni la seva comunicació pública des d'un lloc aliè al servei TDX. Tampoc s'autoritza la presentació del seu contingut en una finestra o marc aliè a TDX (framing). Aquesta reserva de drets afecta tant als continguts de la tesi com als seus resums i índexs., info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoAccess |
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