Jane Austen’s Epistolarity in Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen’s letters contain insights into her practice or philosophy as a writer. While she is credited with embarking on her literary maturation by slowly abandoning epistolary tradition in the eighteenth century, Austen adopts this technique again and naturally weaves her series of letters into a dialogue and description of events. Pride and Prejudice is a notable instance, in which letters are used to tell the story, develop the characters and build the exposition of themes. Thus this paper delves into the role, purpose, and significance of letters in the novel. It is noted that the letters play a great part in revealing the characters, presenting the natural emotions, and enforcing the structure. The paper also explores Austen’s choice of literary technique to declare the writer’s intention to the audience. Austen’s resurgent use of letters in Pride and Prejudice hints at her aesthetic preference for epistolarity, instead of rejection.
References
- Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2017.
- Bender, B. T. “Jane Austen’s Use of the Epistolary Method.” Diss. University of Richmond, 1967.
- Bray, Joe. “The Tensions of Jane Austen’s Epistolary Style.” Romanticism and the Letter, 2020: 133-146.
- Butler, Mary. “Letters Within Jane Austen’s Novels: A Bridge Towards Romantic Communication.” Undergraduate Review, 2006, 2(1): 103-108.
- Davidson, Jenny. “Austen’s Voices.” In Swift’s Travels: Eighteenth-Century British Satire and Its Legacy. Ed. Nicholas Hudson and Aaron Santesso. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2008: 233–50
- De Man, Paul. “Literary History and Literary Modernity.” In Blindness and Insight: Essays in the Rhetoric of Contemporary Criticism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1983: 142–65.
- Dutoit, Thomas. “Speculations about the Obsession with Mastery in Jane Austen and Jacques Derrida.” In Les Formes de L’obsession dans la Littérature Anglaise et Américaine. Ed. Marc Amfreville and Claire Fabre. Paris: Michel Houdiard, 2007: 74–94.
- Epstein, Julia L. “Jane Austen’s Juvenilia and the Female Epistolary Tradition.” Papers on Language and Literature, 1985, 21(4): 399.
- Lenckos, Elisabeth. “‘. . . [I]nventing Elegant Letters,’ or Why Don’t Austen’s Lovers Write More Often?” Persuasions On-Line, 26. Jan. 2005. Web. 25 Aug. 2024.
- Lodge, David. “Jane Austen’s Novels: Form and Structure.” In The Jane Austen Companion. Ed. J. David Grey. New York: Macmillan, 1986: 168–78.
- Miller, D. A. Jane Austen, or The Secret of Style. Princeton: Princeton University, 2003.
- Normandin, Shawn. “Jane Austen’s Epistolarity.” ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, 2014, 27(4): 158-165.
- Robbins, Susan Pepper. “Jane Austen’s Epistolary Fiction.” In Jane Austen’s Beginnings: The Juvenilia and Lady Susan. Ed. J. David Grey. Ann Arbor: UMI Research, 1989: 215–24.
- Sherry, James. “Pride and Prejudice: The Limits of Society.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, 1979, 19(4): 609-622.
- Southam, B. C. Jane Austen’s Literary Manuscripts: A Study of the Novelist’s Development through the Surviving Papers. Oxford: Clarendon, 1964.
- Luo, Jieying. “A Written Form of Dialogues——The Interpretation of letters in Pride and Prejudice.” Journal of Zhejiang University of Technology (Social Sciences), 2007(02): 138-142.