Jane Austen and LeisureJane Austen's novels portray a leisured society of gentlemen and ladies who do not need to work. Even the minority of clergymen, soldiers and sailors - men with professions - are almost never seen working. Jane Austen herself, despite responsibility for some domestic tasks, wrote as a woman of leisure. Yet leisure, the distinguishing mark of a gentleman, was not meant to be an excuse for idleness. The proper use of leisure to fulfil duties, to read and to think, and above all to pursue social relations in a world where family and marriage for the propertied was of central importance, was a vital test of character. |
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Page xi
... Bertram , much more harshly in a Sir Walter Elliot : in his case it is indicative of serious defects of character arising from vanity and resulting in an abrogation of duty towards his estate . The other way in which we have a distorted ...
... Bertram , much more harshly in a Sir Walter Elliot : in his case it is indicative of serious defects of character arising from vanity and resulting in an abrogation of duty towards his estate . The other way in which we have a distorted ...
Page xvi
... Bertram has impoverished his father's estate would have been run up at Newmarket , where , as at all race- courses , there was a minimum permitted stake of £ 50 in order to discourage the placing of small bets and to keep the sport ...
... Bertram has impoverished his father's estate would have been run up at Newmarket , where , as at all race- courses , there was a minimum permitted stake of £ 50 in order to discourage the placing of small bets and to keep the sport ...
Page xix
... Bertram fails to fill , since , unlike his father , his life is given over to the pursuit of pleasure ; 7 the gap is exploited by Mrs Norris , who , having already replaced Lady Bertram in the management of the house- hold , now seeks ...
... Bertram fails to fill , since , unlike his father , his life is given over to the pursuit of pleasure ; 7 the gap is exploited by Mrs Norris , who , having already replaced Lady Bertram in the management of the house- hold , now seeks ...
Page 3
... Bertram ran his estate and made use of its profits ; a clergyman read the service and received his tithes ; a London lawyer like Mr John Knightley could charge fees without incurring any social taint ( though Mrs Elton's uncle , who was ...
... Bertram ran his estate and made use of its profits ; a clergyman read the service and received his tithes ; a London lawyer like Mr John Knightley could charge fees without incurring any social taint ( though Mrs Elton's uncle , who was ...
Page 4
... Bertram's case or , in Mrs Price's , lack of skill . Obligations to the neighbour- hood imposed their own demands of time and expenditure . Other people's leisure had to be catered for by the giving of dinners and evening parties and ...
... Bertram's case or , in Mrs Price's , lack of skill . Obligations to the neighbour- hood imposed their own demands of time and expenditure . Other people's leisure had to be catered for by the giving of dinners and evening parties and ...
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Common terms and phrases
amusement assemblies aunt Austen-Leigh ball Bath Bennet brother Captain Wentworth cards Cassandra characters charade Charles Chawton Country Dancing course daughter delightful Donwell Edmund eighteenth century Elton Emma Emma Watson Emma's Fanny Burney feel Frank Churchill gardens give Godmersham Harriet Henry heroine Highbury hunting Ibid James Edward Jane Austen Jane Austen Society Jane Fairfax John kind Knightley Knightley's Lady Bertram later Lefroy leisure letter lived London look Lord Lybbe Powys Lyme Mansfield Park Marianne marry Martha Lloyd Mary Crawford Mary Lloyd Miss Bates moral needlework never niece night Northanger Abbey novel party perhaps pianoforte play pleasure poem popular Pride and Prejudice resort Sanditon scene seaside Sense and Sensibility sister social Steventon taste theatre theatricals thing Thomas Tilney Tom Bertram verse Weston wife woman Woodhouse writing young ladies