Is there any sex in Jane Austen? What are the right and wrong ways to propose marriage? Which important characters never actually speak?

Jane Austen's novels have been a staple of the English canon since the nineteenth century. Yet critics of the time did not appreciate the true complexity of her work. Nothing, John Mullan argues, is accidental or coincidental in Austen. As Austen herself said, she wrote for readers who have "a great deal of ingenuity themselves."

What Matters in Jane Austen? gets to the heart of what it is that makes Austen's work so singular. In twenty chapters, answering questions her novels have posed for over two centuries, Mullan uncovers the hidden truth of an extraordinary fictional world and reveals the true brilliance--and underappreciated complexity--of Austen's work.

Details

• Author: John Mullan
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Print Type: Hardcover
• Page Count: 352 pages
• ISBN-13: 978-1526693945