Jane Austen's Style: Narrative Economy and the Novel's Growth

Jane Austen is renowned for the economy of her art: for the close focus of her romantic plots and the precision of her writing style. Exploring that economy stylistically and structurally, this book traces Austen's keen interest in narrative form. Anne Toner pinpoints techniques that are fundamental to the distinctiveness of Austen's fiction, many of which have been little explored to date. Toner argues that Austen's conciseness in terms of plotting, narrative description and in the depiction of dialogue also contributed to her innovations in representing thought, expanding the novel's capacity to depict consciousness. Narrative and rhetorical features are presented clearly and accessibly and will open up new ways of thinking about prose style with implications for the study of fiction beyond Austen's own.

Author: Anne Toner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 03/05/2020
Pages: 220
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9781108439404

Review Citation(s):
Choice 03/01/2021

About the Author
Toner, Anne: - Anne Toner is a Fellow and Director of Studies in English at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. She is the author of Ellipsis in English Literature: Signs of Omission (Cambridge, 2015).