What Matters in Jane Austen? by John Mullan

I consider myself to belong to both of these parties thus, I found this book to be helpful in understanding Austen’s work, and a contribution towards my essay ideas. So it can be appreciated by both students of literature and general Austen enthusiasts. In spite of his wealth of Austen knowledge, his book is very approachable and relatively free of ostentatious academic jargon. The book does what is says on the cover, “twenty crucial puzzles solved.” He has provided strong arguments and possible answers to the popular questions he has posed.

Suffice to say, he knows what he is talking about. The author is a professor of English and has been lecturing on Austen for over twenty-five years, so is knowledge base and academic credibility, is profound. This insightful book provides a concise discussion for each, and every, one of these. These, amongst many of the other chapter questions, are questions that many a reader has pondered whilst reading Austen’s work. These include “do we ever see lower classes” and “how do Austen’s characters look. This book is chaptered by a series of simple questions. Yes, academic, I managed to quote the author’s section on Austen’s personal voice being present in parts of the wonderful Northanger Abbey in my theory essay on Narratology. This is a very accessible little book, which is both purposeful for those who just want to have a more in depth knowledge of their favourite Austen novel and those that are looking at her work from a more academic perspective. Written with flair and based on a lifetime's study, What Matters in Jane Austen? will allow readers to appreciate Jane Austen's work in greater depth than ever before. It uses telling passages from Austen's letters and details from her own life to explain episodes in her novels: readers will find out, for example, what novels she read, how much money she had to live on, and what she saw at the theater. What Matters in Jane Austen? illuminates the rituals and conventions of her fictional world in order to reveal her technical virtuosity and daring as a novelist. Readers will discover when Austen's characters had their meals and what shops they went to how vicars got good livings and how wealth was inherited. In twenty short chapters, each of which explores a question prompted by Austen's novels, Mullan illuminates the themes that matter most in her beloved fiction. Asking and answering some very specific questions about what goes on in her novels, he reveals the inner workings of their greatness. Which important Austen characters never speak? Is there any sex in Austen? What do the characters call one another, and why? What are the right and wrong ways to propose marriage? In What Matters in Jane Austen?, John Mullan shows that we can best appreciate Austen's brilliance by looking at the intriguing quirks and intricacies of her fiction.

What Matters in Jane Austen? by John Mullan