Character and Conflict in Jane Austen's Novels:A Psychological Approach

by: Beard J. Paris (Author)

Publisher: Routledge

Edition: 1st

Publication Date: 2017/10/2

Language: English

Print Length: 208 pages

ISBN-10: 1138520241

ISBN-13: 9781138520240

Book Description

In Character and Conflict in Jane Austen's Novels,Beard J. Paris offers an analysis of the protagonists in four of Jane Austen's most popular novels. His analysis reveals them to be brilliant mimetic creations who often break free of the formal and thematic limitations placed upon them by Austen. Paris traces the powerful tensions between form, theme, and mimesis in Mansfield Park, Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and Persuasion.Paris uses Northrop Frye's theory of comic forms to analyze and describe the formal structure of the novels, and Karen Hoey's psychological theories to explore the personalities and inner conflicts of the main characters. The concluding chapter tus from the characters to their creator, employing the Hoeyan categories of self-effacing, detached, and expansive personality types to interpret Jane Austen's own personality.Readers of Jane Austen will find much that is new and challenging in this study. It is one of the few books to recognize and pay tribute to Jane Austen's genius in characterization. Anyone who reads this book will come away with a new understanding of Austen's heroines as imagined human beings and also with a deeper feeling for the troubled humanity of the author herself.

About the Author

In Character and Conflict in Jane Austen's Novels,Beard J. Paris offers an analysis of the protagonists in four of Jane Austen's most popular novels. His analysis reveals them to be brilliant mimetic creations who often break free of the formal and thematic limitations placed upon them by Austen. Paris traces the powerful tensions between form, theme, and mimesis in Mansfield Park, Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and Persuasion.Paris uses Northrop Frye's theory of comic forms to analyze and describe the formal structure of the novels, and Karen Hoey's psychological theories to explore the personalities and inner conflicts of the main characters. The concluding chapter tus from the characters to their creator, employing the Hoeyan categories of self-effacing, detached, and expansive personality types to interpret Jane Austen's own personality.Readers of Jane Austen will find much that is new and challenging in this study. It is one of the few books to recognize and pay tribute to Jane Austen's genius in characterization. Anyone who reads this book will come away with a new understanding of Austen's heroines as imagined human beings and also with a deeper feeling for the troubled humanity of the author herself.