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 xv
... lower classes and principally by men . Jane Austen had little to do with prize - fighting and bull- baiting . Yet her world was not untouched by male leisure pursuits : her brothers hunted and shot , and so do many of INTRODUCTION XV.
... lower classes and principally by men . Jane Austen had little to do with prize - fighting and bull- baiting . Yet her world was not untouched by male leisure pursuits : her brothers hunted and shot , and so do many of INTRODUCTION XV.
Page xvi
David Selwyn. brothers hunted and shot , and so do many of the men in her novels . A large proportion of the debts through which Tom Bertram has impoverished his father's estate would have been run up at Newmarket , where , as at all ...
David Selwyn. brothers hunted and shot , and so do many of the men in her novels . A large proportion of the debts through which Tom Bertram has impoverished his father's estate would have been run up at Newmarket , where , as at all ...
Page xix
... brother's extrava- gance , which has resulted in its being presented to Dr Grant . Henry Crawford , like his sister and the Miss Bertrams , is also intent on the pursuit of pleasure ; and having failed to find enough scope for amusement ...
... brother's extrava- gance , which has resulted in its being presented to Dr Grant . Henry Crawford , like his sister and the Miss Bertrams , is also intent on the pursuit of pleasure ; and having failed to find enough scope for amusement ...
Page xxi
... brothers ; and ones that are essentially accomplishments - needlework , drawing , singing , playing and dancing . The last of these was of great importance as a social activity and , in that dances were equally popular at balls in ...
... brothers ; and ones that are essentially accomplishments - needlework , drawing , singing , playing and dancing . The last of these was of great importance as a social activity and , in that dances were equally popular at balls in ...
Page 1
... brothers rallied round generously and they were able to live comfortably at Chawton Cottage on Edward's Hampshire estate . Even so , it came as a great disappointment when Mrs Austen's wealthy brother , James Leigh Perrot , died without ...
... brothers rallied round generously and they were able to live comfortably at Chawton Cottage on Edward's Hampshire estate . Even so , it came as a great disappointment when Mrs Austen's wealthy brother , James Leigh Perrot , died without ...
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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