Is there any sex in Austen? What do the characters call each other & why? What are the right & wrong ways to propose marriage? & which important Austen characters never speak? In What Matters in Austen John Mullan shows that you can best appreciate Jane Austens brilliance by looking at the intriguing quirks & intricacies of her fiction
- by asking & answering some very specific questions about what goes on in her novels he reveals their devilish cleverness. In twenty-one short chapters each of which answers a question prompted by Jane Austens novels Mullan illuminates the themes that matter most to the workings of the fiction. So the reader will discover when people had their meals & what shops they went to how they addressed each other who was allowed to write letters to whom who owned coaches or pianos how vicars got good livings & how wealth was inherited. What Matters in Austen explores the rituals & conventions of her fictional world in order to reveal her technical virtuosity & sheer daring as a novelist. Though not a book about Jane Austens life it uses biographical detail & telling passages from her letters to explain episodes in her novels; readers will find out for example what novels she read or how much money she had to live on or what she saw at the theatre. Inspired by an enthusiastic readers curiosity written with flair & based on a lifetimes study What Matters in Austen will appeal to all those who love & enjoy Jane Austens work.