Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Jane Austen
-
Standard Name: Austen, Jane
Birth Name: Jane Austen
Pseudonym: A Lady
Styled: Mrs Ashton Dennis
JA
's unequalled reputation has led academic canon-makers to set her on a pedestal and scholars of early women's writing to use her as an epoch. For generations she was the first—or the only—woman to be adjudged major. Recent attention has shifted: her balance, good sense, and humour are more taken for granted, and critics have been scanning her six mature novels for traces of the boldness and irreverence which mark her juvenilia. Her two unfinished novels, her letters (which some consider an important literary text in themselves), and her poems and prayers have also received some attention.
Reviewers were complimentary. One called the book an amusing pastiche in the manner of Jane Austen
.
Strickland, Margot. Angela Thirkell: Portrait of a Lady Novelist. Duckworth.
114
Textual Production
Angela Thirkell
She also provided introductions for editions of Jane Austen
's Persuasion, 1946, William Makepeace Thackeray
's The Newcomes, 1954, and Anthony Trollope
's Barchester Towers, 1958.
Publishing
Flora Thompson
The Ladies Companion printed most of a winning competition entry by FT
(who was not yet an author), an essay required to capture in 300 words her understanding of Jane Austen
's success.
Lindsay, Gillian. Flora Thompson: The Story of the Lark Rise Writer. Hale.
81 and n3
Textual Features
Elizabeth Sophia Tomlins
Though Theresa writes most of the letters in the book, the opening one, as often in women's epistolary novels at this date, is an exchange between men. Tomlins, however, does not attempt to capture a...
Textual Production
Rose Tremain
RT
published a novel entitled Music and Silence, which she dedicated to her daughter, Eleanor.
Scholar John Mullan
has related the title to others employing two abstract nouns, like Elizabeth Inchbald
's Nature and...
Textual Production
Melesina Trench
Because a grand-daughter (Mary-Melusina, daughter of Richard Chenevix Trench) married a son of James Edward Austen-Leigh
(first biographer of his aunt Jane Austen
), MT
's papers are now housed with the Austen-Leigh papers at...
Textual Production
Joanna Trollope
JT
's modernised retelling of Sense and Sensibility (published in October 2013), is one of a series of projected Jane Austen
updates. In January 2014 Trollope discussed Austen in a podcast with Fay Weldon
in...
Textual Production
Joanna Trollope
JA pursued her Austen
connection with a talk on her at a charity Christmas supper held at Chawton House Library
on 5 December 2015.
Intertextuality and Influence
Frances Eleanor Trollope
It begins by relaying the story of Augustus Cheffington, whose marriage below his rank to Susan Dobbs is blamed for his inability to secure himself the respect of proper society or a position in the...
Literary responses
Frances Trollope
FT
's rambunctious widow was greatly admired by both her male and female readership. Even the Athenæum, which was usually unsupportive of her work, offered a positive review: [s]o frequently has it been our...
Education
Susan Tweedsmuir
She was, however, always reading as a child: she and her sister had few books, but knew by heart whole chapters of the ones they did have. As a child Susan hated Mrs Mortimer
's...
Textual Production
Sarah Tytler
In a single volume, ST
's Jane Austen
and Her Works offered a short biography and a plot summary of the major novels, interspersed with critical commentary.
Tytler, Sarah. Jane Austen and Her Works. Cassell, Petter, Galpin.
prelims
Occupation
Sarah Tytler
As regards the typical feminine curriculum, ST
resented the tradition of mandatory music teaching—of the piano—to young women, and the slight to other branches of education in the extravagant favour shown to one branch.
Tytler, Sarah. Three Generations. J. Murray.
235-6
Literary responses
Elizabeth von Arnim
This novel elicited a wide range of responses from reviewers. John Middleton Murry
consoled EA
when she received harsh criticism in the Times Literary Supplement. He told her there was no way to protect...
Literary responses
Elizabeth von Arnim
The Benefactress received positive reviews in the US and England. A number of critics likened the author to Jane Austen
, while The Examiner referred to her as the Unknown Genius. The Daily Mail...
