ECU Libraries Catalog

Women and 'value' in Jane Austen's novels : settling, speculating and superfluity / Lynda A. Hall.

Author/creator Hall, Lynda A. author.
Format Book and Print
Publication Info Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan, [2017]
Copyright Notice ©2017
Descriptionx, 225 pages ; 22 cm
Subject(s)
Contents Introduction -- Money, value, and circulation -- Marriage, credit, and a woman's education -- Sense and settling -- Speculation and predatory behavior -- Superfluous, invisible, and invalid -- The minor protagonist, or the reluctant heroine.
Abstract This book considers how Jane Austen's minor female characters expose the economic and social realities of British women in the long eighteenth century and reflect the conflict between intrinsic and expressed value within the evolving marketplace, where fluctuations and fictions inherent in the economic and moral value structures are exposed. Just as the newly-minted paper money was struggling to express its value, so do Austen's minor female characters struggle to assert their intrinsic value within a marketplace that expresses their worth as bearers of dowries. Austen's minor female characters expose the plight of women who settle for transactional marriages, become speculators and predators, or become superfluous women who left the marriage market and battle for personal significance and existence. These characters illustrate the ambiguity of value within the marriage market economy, exposing women's limited choices. This book employs a socio-historical framework, considering the rise of a competitive consume economy juxtaposed with affective individualism.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 211-218) and index.
ISBN3319507354
ISBN9783319507354

Available Items

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner General Stacks PR4038 .W6 H35 2017 ✔ Available Place Hold