PERSUASION JANE AUSTEN EDITED BY PATRICIA MEYER SPACKSA NORTON pptx

PERSUASION JANE AUSTEN EDITED BY PATRICIA MEYER SPACKS A NORTON CRITICAL EDITION PERSUASION The text of this Norton Critical Edition is that of the first edition (dated 1818 but probably issued in late 1817), which was published posthumously. The editor has spelled out amper- sands and made superscript letters lowercase. The novel, which is fully annotated, is followed by the two canceled chapters that comprise Persuasion's original ending. "Backgrounds and Contexts" collects contemporary assess- ments of Jane Austen as well as materials relating to the social issues of the day. Included is an excerpt from William Hayley's 1785 "Essay on Old Maids"; Austen's letters to Fanny Knight, which reveal her skepticism about marriage as the key to happi- ness; Henry Austen's memorial tribute to his famous sister; as- sessments by nineteenth-century critics Julia Kavanagh and Goldwin Smith, who saw Austen as an unassuming, sheltered, "feminine," rural writer; and the perspective of Austen's biogra- pher, Géraldine Edith Mitten. "Modern Critical Views" reflects a dramatic shift in the way that scholars view both Austen and Persuasion. Increasingly, the focus is on Austen's moral purposefulness and political acumen and on Persuasions historical, social, and political implications. A variety of perspectives are provided by A. Walton Litz, Marilyn Butler, Tony Tanner, Robert Hopkins, Ann W. Astell, Claudia L. Johnson, and Cheryl Ann Weissman. A Selected Bibliography is included. ABOUT THE SERIES: Each Norton Critical Edition includes an authoritative text, contextual and source materials, and a wide range of interpretations— from contemporary perspectives to the most current critical theory—as well as a bibliography and, in many cases, a chronology of the author's life and work. COVER ILLUSTRATION: Thomas Hearne, "View of Bath from Spring Garden," Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. AUTHOR'S PORTRAIT: Watercolor sketch of Jane Austen by Cassandra Austen. Reproduced by courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London. ISBN-10: 0-393-96018-8 780393"960181 90000 > W.W.NORTON NEW YORK LONDON \_ The Editor PATRICIA MEYER SPACKS is Edgar F. Shannon Professor of English at the University of Virginia. She is the author of eleven books including An Argument of Images: The Poetry of Alexander Pope, The Female Imagination, The Adolescent Idea: Myths of Youth in the Adult Imagination, Desire and Truth: Functions of Plot in Eighteenth-Century English Nov- els, and Boredom: The Literary History of a State of Mind. Professor Spacks is a contributing editor of The Norton Anthol- ogy of World Masterpieces. [...]... Knight remind us of Jane Austen' s comic skepticism about marriage as consti­ tuting inevitable female bliss; Persuasion helps elucidate that skepticism ix X PREFACE In his memorial notice her brother describes Jane Austen as a woman of notable piety and familial devotion That woman's last completed novel reminds us how rich an emotional life may underlie exemplary female conduct One of Austen' s communications... Elliot, the heroine of Persuasion, as "almost too good for me." Henry Austen' s characterization of his sister makes goodness sound like a simple matter Persuasion tells us otherwise Goodness can include resistance as well as persuadability—and it by no means pre­ cludes private judgment If such commentators on the social scene as Hayley and such observ­ ers of character as Henry Austen call attention... considers the Austen of Persuasion a serious moralist and a significant commenta­ tor on social, even political, issues My decision to emphasize recent criticism of Persuasion reflects my conviction that the current critical shift has enormous importance for our comprehension of Austen' s achievement New ways of approaching the novels make it possible for the first time to think complexly about Austen in... praised Austen' s characterization and noted the high degree of feeling in Persuasion had it right Thus Julia Kavanagh, in 1862, observes that the portrayal of Anne constitutes "the first genuine picture of that silent torture of an unloved woman." Just so: Austen makes her readers experience vicariously the full intensity of such torture But those interested in the social and political implications of Austen' s... purchased independence by uniting himself to a rich woman of inferior birth Sir Walter had resented it As the head of the house, he felt that he ought to have been consulted, especially after taking the young man so 6 A light, open carriage drawn by four horses 7 CHAPTER I publicly by the hand: "For they must have been seen together," he observed, "once at Tattersal's, and twice in the lobby of the House... and their political repercussions in England Persuasion speaks of more than life in a village, or even in Bath It sharply ironizes Austen' s well-known profession to her brother about "the little bit (two Inches wide) of Ivory on which I work with so fine a Brush, as produces little effect after much labour." Devoted readers have always denied the claim that Austen works to "little effect"; the notion... (1785), for instance, implic­ itly sketches the social context in which Austen chose to investigate the emotional situation of a twenty-seven-year-old unmarried woman For Austen, at least in her role as fiction maker, as for Hayley, marriage constituted the happy ending of a woman's youth Within this concep­ tual framework, however, Austen found it possible to imagine a woman neither preoccupied with... superscript letters have been lowered The Text of PERSUASION Persuasion Chapter I Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch-hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage; there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one; there his faculties were roused into admiration and respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest... who had been brought, by strong attachment to herself, to settle close by her, in the village of Kellynch; and on her kindness and advice, Lady Elliot mainly relied for the best help and maintenance of the good principles and instruction which she had been anxiously giving her daughters This friend, and Sir Walter, did not marry, whatever might have been anticipated on that head by their acquaintance.—Thirteen...Preface Jane Austen wrote Persuasion, her last complete novel, while suffering from the illness (Addison's disease) that would kill her She began work on it in 1815, finishing her alterations of the final chapters on July . PERSUASION JANE AUSTEN EDITED BY PATRICIA MEYER SPACKS A NORTON CRITICAL EDITION PERSUASION The text of this Norton Critical Edition is that of . Mays THE NORTON INTRODUCTION TO THE SHORT NOVEL edited by Jerome Beaty THE NORTON READER edited by Linda H. Peterson and John C. Brereton THE NORTON SAMPLER edited by Thomas Cooley. FICTION edited by R.V. Cassill and Richard Bausch THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF THEORY AND CRITICISM edited by Vincent B. Leitch et al. THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF WORLD LITERATURE edited by Sarah