英美文学欣赏资料-4.janeau.ppt

Jane Austen ( 1775-1817)Life the daughter of a country clergyman, passedall her life in doing small domestic duties in the countryside.educated at home , published anonymously lived a quite life in the countryside kept her eyes steadily upon the people and incidents about her, wrote about the small world she lived in. brought the English novels to its maturity，been regarded by many critics as one of the greatest of all novelistsTheme Austen's main literary concern is about human beings in their personal relationships. She is particularly preoccupied with the relationship between men & women in love. Stories of love & marriage provide the major themes in all her novels.Works Sense and Sensibility （ 1811 ）《理智与情感》Pride and Prejudice （1813)《傲慢与偏见》Mansfield Park (1814）《曼斯菲尔德公园》Emma (1816)《爱玛》Northanger Abbey （1818）《诺桑觉寺》Persuasion (1818)《劝导》 Sense & Sensibility （1811） tells a story about two sisters & their love affairs Pride & Prejudice （1813） deals with the five Bennet sisters & their search for suitable husbands Mansfield Park （1814） presents the antithesis of worldliness & unworldliness Emma （1815） gives the thought over self-deceptive vanity  Persuasion (1818) contrasts the true love with the prudentialcalculations Representative work Pride and Prejudice This novel is Jane Austen’s masterpiece. The central character of the novel is Elizabeth Bennet, one of the daughters in Bennet’s family  None of the daughters can inherit the estate of the family for it has been entailed upon the nearest male heir, William Collins.Collins intends to marry and he decides to choose Elizabeth and a way of making amends for inheriting the family’s estate. Collins is a preposterous suitor, and Elizabeth rejected the proposal. Another young called Darcy proposes to her, but she has prejudice against him because she thinks that he has nothing but pride. After many twists and turns, they are happily united.This book tells us a great deal about attitude toward marriage in Austen’s time. The plot is very thin, but around it Austen has woven vivid pictures of everyday life of simple country society.Features of her novels *Jane Austen is one of the realistic novelists. The most striking thing about her works is the seeming obviousness to the big social and political upheavals in the outside world of her time. She drew vivid and realistic pictures of everyday life of the country society in her novels. * Austen’s work has a very narrow literary field. She only confines herself to the everyday life of simple country society with vivid description * Her interest is centered chiefly upon love and marriage.*Her plots are straight-forward; there is little action. *Her characters are like real living creatures, with faults and virtues mixed as they are in real life. * Her prose flows easily and naturally. Her dialogue is admirably true to life. * Her novels show a wealth of humor, wit and delicate satire. Selected ReadingAn Excerpt From Chapter I of Pride & Prejudice。