What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew

What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew
Author: Daniel Pool
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 422
Release: 2012-10-02
Genre: Education
ISBN: 143914480X

A “delightful reader’s companion” (The New York Times) to the great nineteenth-century British novels of Austen, Dickens, Trollope, the Brontës, and more, this lively guide clarifies the sometimes bizarre maze of rules and customs that governed life in Victorian England. For anyone who has ever wondered whether a duke outranked an earl, when to yell “Tally Ho!” at a fox hunt, or how one landed in “debtor’s prison,” this book serves as an indispensable historical and literary resource. Author Daniel Pool provides countless intriguing details (did you know that the “plums” in Christmas plum pudding were actually raisins?) on the Church of England, sex, Parliament, dinner parties, country house visiting, and a host of other aspects of nineteenth-century English life—both “upstairs” and “downstairs. An illuminating glossary gives at a glance the meaning and significance of terms ranging from “ague” to “wainscoting,” the specifics of the currency system, and a lively host of other details and curiosities of the day.

Searching for Jane Austen

Searching for Jane Austen
Author: Emily Auerbach
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2004
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780299201845

A study of Jane Austen's life and writings, this work surveys two centuries of editing, censorship, and fiction that created a pious, wistful, romantically pining, and frustrated Austen. It serves up an antidote to that icon - a dynamic, brave, and buoyant writer - by examining subtle self-portraits in the author's works.

Jane Austen and Altruism

Jane Austen and Altruism
Author: Magdalen Ki
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2020-02-26
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1000650618

Jane Austen and Altruism identifies a compelling theme, namely, the view that Jane Austen propounds a rigorous, boundary-sensitive model of altruism that counters the human propensity to selfishness and promotes the culture of cooperation. In her days, altruism was commonly known as "benevolence", "charity," or "philanthropy", and these concepts overlap with Auguste Comte’s later definition of altruism as "otherism". This volume argues that Austen’s thinking co-opts the evolutionary idea that altruism is seldom truly pure, egoism cannot be eradicated, and boundless group altruism is not sustainable. However, given that she comes from a naval and clergy family, she witnesses the power of wartime patriotism, the Evangelical revival, the Regency culture of politeness, and the sentimental novels. In her novels, she locates human relationships along an altruism continuum that ranges from enlightened selfishness to pathological altruism. Unconditional love is hard to find, but empathy, kin altruism, reciprocal exchange, and group altruism are key to the formation of self-identity, family, community and the nation state.

The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Jane Austen

The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Jane Austen
Author: Carol J. Adams
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2008-09-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0826429335

A fantastically vast and witty companion to everything you need to know about Jane Austen, presented in a wonderfully fun and entertaining style which will appeal to all readers.

Matters of Fact in Jane Austen

Matters of Fact in Jane Austen
Author: Janine Barchas
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 335
Release: 2012-08-20
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1421406403

In Matters of Fact in Jane Austen: History, Location, and Celebrity, Janine Barchas makes the bold assertion that Jane Austen’s novels allude to actual high-profile politicians and contemporary celebrities as well as to famous historical figures and landed estates. Barchas is the first scholar to conduct extensive research into the names and locations in Austen’s fiction by taking full advantage of the explosion of archival materials now available online. According to Barchas, Austen plays confidently with the tension between truth and invention that characterizes the realist novel. Of course, the argument that Austen deployed famous names presupposes an active celebrity culture during the Regency, a phenomenon recently accepted by scholars. The names Austen plucks from history for her protagonists (Dashwood, Wentworth, Woodhouse, Tilney, Fitzwilliam, and many more) were immensely famous in her day. She seems to bank upon this familiarity for interpretive effect, often upending associations with comic intent. Barchas re-situates Austen’s work closer to the historical novels of her contemporary Sir Walter Scott and away from the domestic and biographical perspectives that until recently have dominated Austen studies. This forward-thinking and revealing investigation offers scholars and ardent fans of Jane Austen a wealth of historical facts, while shedding an interpretive light on a new aspect of the beloved writer's work. -- Joseph Roach, Sterling Professor of Theater and English, Yale University, and author of It

Trollope On the Net

Trollope On the Net
Author: Ellen Moody
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 310
Release: 1999-01-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9781852851903

This book takes up two topics. The first is the British novelist Anthony Trollope (1815-1882), author of 47 novels and five volumes of short stories. The second is the Internet, specifically the creation of virtual communities through email and discussion lists, focusing, naturally enough, on discussion of the works of Trollope. The first chapter tells how the group began and focuses on the conversation that ensued on Trollopes first novel: The Macdermots of Ballycloran. The second chapter widens the discussion to take in all of Trollope's Irish novels. The third records the conversation of the group on Trollope's novel of jealousy: He Knew He Was Right. The fourth chapter discusses Trollope's shorter novels. The fifth returns to the group conversations; this time the discussion of The Claverings. The sixth chapter discusses the illustrations of Trollope's novels. The seventh chapter records the group conversation on Trollope's most class-ridden novel, Lady Anna. The eighth chapter discusses trollope's life, through his An Autobiography. The last chapter sets the group conversation on Can You Forgive Her? into the context of the Palliser (or Parliamentary) novel sequence. The Preface is by John Letts, Chairman of the (British) Trollope Society. The book contains twenty-four illustrations from the original editions of Trollope's novels.

Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London

Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London
Author: Andrea Warren
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 165
Release: 2011
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0547395744

The motivations behind Dickens' novels and the poverty-stricken world of 19th century London.

A Study Guide for Charles Dickens's "Oliver Twist"

A Study Guide for Charles Dickens's
Author: Gale, Cengage Learning
Publisher: Gale, Cengage Learning
Total Pages: 42
Release: 2016-06-29
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1410354415

A Study Guide for Charles Dickens's "Oliver Twist," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

A Study Guide for Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol"

A Study Guide for Charles Dickens's
Author: Gale, Cengage Learning
Publisher: Gale, Cengage Learning
Total Pages: 29
Release: 2016-06-29
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1410342778

A Study Guide for Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.