Jane Austen's Names: Riddles, Persons, Places
by Margaret Doody /
2015 / English / PDF, EPUB
10.3 MB Download
In Jane Austen’s works, a name is never just a name. In fact, the
names Austen gives her characters and places are as rich in
subtle meaning as her prose itself. Wiltshire, for example, the
home county of Catherine Morland in
In Jane Austen’s works, a name is never just a name. In fact, the
names Austen gives her characters and places are as rich in
subtle meaning as her prose itself. Wiltshire, for example, the
home county of Catherine Morland inNorthanger Abbey
Northanger Abbey, is a
clue that this heroine is not as stupid as she seems: according
to legend, cunning Wiltshire residents caught hiding contraband
in a pond capitalized on a reputation for ignorance by claiming
they were digging up a big cheese”the moon’s reflection on the
water’s surface. It worked.
, is a
clue that this heroine is not as stupid as she seems: according
to legend, cunning Wiltshire residents caught hiding contraband
in a pond capitalized on a reputation for ignorance by claiming
they were digging up a big cheese”the moon’s reflection on the
water’s surface. It worked.
In
InJane Austen’s Names,
Jane Austen’s Names, Margaret Doody offers a
fascinating and comprehensive study of all the names of people
and placesreal and imaginaryin Austen’s fiction. Austen’s
creative choice of names reveals not only her virtuosic talent
for riddles and puns. Her names also pick up deep stories from
English history, especially the various civil wars, and the
blood-tinged differences that played out in the reign of Henry
VIII, a period to which she often returns. Considering the major
novels alongside unfinished works and juvenilia, Doody shows how
Austen’s names signal class tensions as well as regional, ethnic,
and religious differences. We gain a new understanding of
Austen’s technique of creative anachronism, which plays with and
against her skillfully deployed realismin her books, the
conflicts of the past swirl into the tensions of the present,
transporting readers beyond the Regency.
Margaret Doody offers a
fascinating and comprehensive study of all the names of people
and placesreal and imaginaryin Austen’s fiction. Austen’s
creative choice of names reveals not only her virtuosic talent
for riddles and puns. Her names also pick up deep stories from
English history, especially the various civil wars, and the
blood-tinged differences that played out in the reign of Henry
VIII, a period to which she often returns. Considering the major
novels alongside unfinished works and juvenilia, Doody shows how
Austen’s names signal class tensions as well as regional, ethnic,
and religious differences. We gain a new understanding of
Austen’s technique of creative anachronism, which plays with and
against her skillfully deployed realismin her books, the
conflicts of the past swirl into the tensions of the present,
transporting readers beyond the Regency.
Full of insight and surprises for even the most devoted Janeite,
Full of insight and surprises for even the most devoted Janeite,Jane Austen’s Names
Jane Austen’s Names will revolutionize how we read
Austen’s fiction.
will revolutionize how we read
Austen’s fiction.