Abstract
It started with a throwaway line in a conversation with an Adelaide musical entrepreneur. We were planning a day of Jane Austen-related activities, and I suggested that we could use courtship as a theme for the music program. “After all,” I said, without really thinking, “they are courtship novels”. The contrarian imp who lives on my left shoulder immediately piped up, “Are you sure?”
So I went on to study each of Austen’s six novels with that thought in mind. I concluded that none of them have courtship - that is, the assiduous attention of the hero to gaining the heroine’s hand - as a central and animating theme.
So I went on to study each of Austen’s six novels with that thought in mind. I concluded that none of them have courtship - that is, the assiduous attention of the hero to gaining the heroine’s hand - as a central and animating theme.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publisher | The Conversation Media Group |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
Bibliographical note
CC BY-ND. Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons licence.Keywords
- Jane Austen
- bicentenary
- novels
- courtship narratives
- satire