![]() ![]() ![]() Reading that chapter amazed me to her sensitivity to the weather in the development of plots. ![]() Such a seemingly mundane subject helps drive the direction of many of her novels. Why is it important? Mullan discusses the impact of weather on Austen’s daily life, and then examines the weather’s impact on the characters and on the plot development within her novels. Take, for example, the question about the weather. It is in the minutiae that Austen shows her genius. Some of the questions include the following: What do the characters call each other, and why? What important characters never speak? How much does age matter? Who dies? and How experimental a novelist is Jane Austen? As Mullan answers these questions, he reveals the complexity that was Jane Austen’s world, but he also makes clear the ingenuity of Austen’s writing. In this volume, Mullan asks some questions of Austen’s texts and then answers them. But I hope that does not scare casual readers away from it, because What Matters in Jane Austen? is full of observations about the novels to help even the most casual of readers fall in love with Austen’s well crafted novels once more. What Matters in Jane Austen? by John Mullan (Bloomsbury, 2012) is a literary theory light book for the masses of Austenites around the globe. I may receive compensation for any purchased items. Posts written from review copies are labeled. ![]() Note: I occasionally accept review copies from the publisher. ![]()
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