31st Annual Student Research Conference
The Significance of Letters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
Rebecca J. Canino
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
Most critics agree that Jane Austen rejected the style of epistolary fiction for a more controlled, authorial perspective, giving rise to the narrated novel. Thus, Elisabeth Lenckos argues that Austen’s novels “ring in the age of the new novel.” David Lodge notes that Austen abandoned epistolary fiction for more “subtle and flexible methods of representing a character’s thoughts and feelings in literary narrative.” Nevertheless, letters play a significant role in Austen’s novels. This paper will examine the mixing of the genres of the epistolary novel and the narrated novel in Pride and Prejudice, looking closely at how Elizabeth and Jane Bennet and other characters confide in each other through letters, reveal their inner thoughts, and further the plot of the novel.
Keywords: Letters , Pride and Prejudice, Epistolary Novels , Jane Austen
Topic(s):Economics
English
History
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 404-1
Location: MG 2001
Time: 2:30