Jane Austen free indirect style, gender and interiority in literary fiction
Authors
MacMahon, BarbaraAffiliation
University of DerbyIssue Date
2018-05-21
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Show full item recordAbstract
In this chapter I suggest that Jane Austen’s use of free indirect style has a far-reaching legacy in terms of establishing the form as central to a sense of literariness in prose fiction. More particularly, I argue that Austen’s use of language metarepresents the thoughts of female characters as a dynamic process of understanding themselves and their worlds. This coincides with a more general perception, construction and performance of ‘feminine’ thought and language use as hesitant, equivocal and spontaneous. I explore the influence of Austen’s style with close analysis and comparison of passages of interiority in Austen’s Mansfield Park, Katherine Mansfield’s short story ‘Millie’ and Monica Ali’s novel Brick Lane.Citation
MacMahon, B. (2018) 'Jane Austen, Free Indirect Style, Gender and Interiority in Literary Fiction'. In: Hopkins L. (eds) After Austen. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, pp, 221-243.Publisher
Palgrave MacmillanDOI
10.1007/978-3-319-95894-1_11Type
Book chapterLanguage
enISBN
978-3-319-95894-1ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1007/978-3-319-95894-1_11