Imatge de l'autor

Claudia L. Johnson

Autor/a de Jane Austen: Women, Politics, and the Novel

6+ obres 255 Membres 4 Ressenyes

Sobre l'autor

Claudia L. Johnson is the Murray Professor of English Literature at Princeton University. She is the author or editor of several books, including Jane Austen: Women, Politics, and the Novel and Equivocal Beings: Politics, Gender, and Sentimentality in the 1790s, both published by the University of mostra'n més Chicago Press. mostra'n menys

Inclou també: Claudia Johnson (1)

Crèdit de la imatge: from Princeton University faculty page

Obres de Claudia L. Johnson

Obres associades

Orgull i prejudici (1813) — Editor, algunes edicions80,089 exemplars
Seny i sentiment (1811) — Editor, algunes edicions37,891 exemplars
Mansfield Park (1814) — Editor, algunes edicions22,365 exemplars
Northanger Abbey (1817) — Introducció, algunes edicions21,479 exemplars
Northanger Abbey / Lady Susan / Sanditon / The Watsons (1998) — Introducció, algunes edicions1,323 exemplars
Sense and Sensibility [Norton Critical Edition] (1811) — Editor — 430 exemplars
Mansfield Park [Norton Critical Edition] (1814) — Editor — 354 exemplars
The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen, 1st edition (1997) — Col·laborador — 267 exemplars
The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen, 2nd edition (2011) — Col·laborador — 55 exemplars

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I really REALLY liked this book. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was that being more of an academic book, the text didn't flow that well, and it was easy to let your mind wander... I loved reading about the more political side of Jane Austen as people tend to concentrate on the romances and in my opinion they miss a lot. Although, I have obviously missed a lot as well, as I noticed (I might need a brush-up with my regency history of England...). I didn't agree with everything, but all in all, I thought this was a very insightful and thought-provoking read.… (més)
 
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RankkaApina | Hi ha 1 ressenya més | Feb 22, 2021 |
I'm trying to stay focused when it comes to the research I'm doing, but I saw this at the library and couldn't resist. I'm glad I went ahead and picked it up. It's short, accessible, and fascinating. The chapter about Austen's portrait -- is that really Austen, and is the "Rice Portrait" definitely *not* Austen? -- alone makes it worth reading.

I was also interested (and rather furious) to learn that R.W. Chapman, he of the famous Chapman editions of Austen's works, lifted "the entire setting of the text" of his *wife's* own scholarly edition of "Pride and Prejudice" "into volume 2 of his 1923 set without acknowledging it or her, much less accounting for this wholesale duplication." Grr.

I very much enjoyed Johnson's thoughts on Austen's writing. This is lovely:

"I lay it down as axiomatic that whenever objects are made to stand out with any sort of specificity in Austen's novels, something is wrong. ...In most cases, particular things become prominent because they are noticed by a character who is a snob, a bore, or worse. In _Northanger Abbey_, for example, we learn about the hothouse pineapples, Rumford stoves, and a set of Staffordshire china manufactured two years earlier because General Tilney, that great and nasty social climber, brags about them. He calls that set of Staffordshire 'old' because he has a passion for new and newfangled things, and two years makes them pitifully out of date."

This is that rare book about Austen and her work that might well be of interest to the most casual reader of Austen (if there is such a thing as a casual Austen reader), or to the reader who hasn't yet picked up her novels.

… (més)
 
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Deborah_Markus | Hi ha 1 ressenya més | Aug 8, 2015 |
I found this an extremely interesting book, which has subjects that even people who avoid professional criticism will enjoy. I am often among those, and I think about reading titles such as How to Read a Book, but I fear to ruin my reading experience. Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Johnson's Jane Austen: Women, Politics, and the Novel, I grabbed this eagerly. I don't mean to sound condescending, but the reader who normally flees professional criticism but is interested in history should give it a look, and of course it will be of interest to those who don't flee but actually seek out said criticism.

A discussion of whether or not Jane Austen is disembodied, one of the first topics in this book, would normally bore me, but this is quite interesting, particularly as Johnson comments upon the various possible portraits of Jane Austen (all of which are pictured) and includes several that I have not seen before. I have one comment: with regard to the Rice portrait (a full-length portrait of a girl in her early teens): the main objection that I have heard is that the subject's clothing is from a later time. Not that I am any expert, but Johnson might have addressed this issue. I can also understand why, when asked for a portrait of Jane, her sister Cassandra did not offer her own somewhat crude sketch, particularly if it wasn't a good likeness. Being of a prosaic mind, although I wish she had been in a living body longer, and written more books, the important thing to me is that she remains with us in her books.

Johnson then gives us an interesting history of views of Jane Austen in the Victorian era, World War I, World War II, and more recently. The critics of the past argue whether she was feminine or a man in a woman's body, a rebel or deeply contented with her society, and so forth. It is very interesting to read an overview of opinions, even with the obvious dangers, when I probably wouldn't want to actually plow through the originals. The main idea that I got from these chapters is that one finds the Jane Austen that one wants, as I suppose one does for most authors.

Johnson concludes with a history of the creation of the Chawton House museum, a discussion of its merits and demerits, and a consideration of whether such tributes are really meaningful. I personally am always in favor of preserving such places, whether or not I have any interest in its famous former occupants, simply to have the buildings and furnishings of an older time preserved.
… (més)
½
 
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PuddinTame | Hi ha 1 ressenya més | May 28, 2014 |
I generally avoid literary criticism, preferring to enhance my understanding of an author through history and biography, but I recently picked up three books on Jane Austen that have made me rethink my position.

This is a very readable look at Jane Austen as a female author during a time when the proper behavior of woman was a hotly debated issue. In this volume, Johnson considers the literary context in which Austen was writing, and then relates each of her novels to it. This book was nicely complemented by Margaret Kirkham's Jane Austen, Feminism and Fiction, which I read about the same time. The latter approaches the period from a slightly more historical, rather than literary perspective. The two are not repetitive, but rather mutually enriching. Johnson struck me as a little more politically doctrinaire, which is a minus for me, but a plus for some. A second book that may be of interest is Alison G. Sulloway's Jane Austen & the Province of Womanhood. Sulloway is discussing the same general topic, but she chiefly focuses on writings about proper female conduct, rather than literature.

I suppose that we chose our own Jane Austen, and I prefer the clear-eyed social critics whose lack of delusions have frightened some of her readers. This being the case, I particularly enjoyed Johnson's reading of Sense and Sensibility. Many critics, such as Claire Tomalin, have complained because Austen describes Marianne as getting over Willoughby and going forward to thrive as Mrs. Brandon. Johnson notes that if Marianne had in fact died of her illness, or if the younger Eliza has conveniently died, it would have been a standard, patriarchal sentimental solution to the "problem" of women disappointed in love, permitting the eternal preservation of loyalty to a man who has meanwhile gone his merry way. One wonders what bit of sickly sentimentality the critics of Austen's ending would like: Marianne renounces love and devotes herself to good works? Mrs. Willoughby conveniently dies? Or, pulling out all the stops: Eliza dies giving birth to a second, stillborn child fathered by another man (thus vindicating Willoughby's assertion that she wasn't really innocent, so his abandonment of her is less serious); Marianne successfully begs Colonel Brandon to let her rear her beloved Willoughy's child (a girl, naturally); Mrs Willoughby elopes with a lover (thus making Willoughby an injured party and allowing him to keep her dowry); after the divorce, Marianne and Willoughby marry, he is redeemed by her love, and she bears his heir. Faugh - I congratulate Johnson for cutting through such nonsense.

I am somewhat less convinced by Johnson's analysis of Austen's portrayal of Henry Tilney in Northanger Abbey, but she builds a good enough case that I will have to reread the novel. I think she goes a bit off track in Mansfield Park. I think that Mrs. Norris was more incitor than adjutant to Sir Thomas' less admirable notions, although she certainly was both. I can see why Johnson finds the relationship of Fanny and Edmund disturbingly incestuous, but this is reading 20th century attitudes back into earlier times. I don't think Jane Austen thought this, and since the book purports to be analysing what she intended to say, this should be roped off a bit more.

The notes are nicely done, with running titles of the pages on which the citations appear, so it is easy to match up cite with note. The notes contain additional factual information, so the reader may find that it pays to check on them while reading. There is an index, but no bibligraphy. While the notes serve the latter function, it would have been nice to have a list of contemporary writing that were discussed.

David Monaghan's Jane Austen : Structure and Social Vision deals with different aspects of the author's commentary and I found it to be a worthwhile complement to this work.
… (més)
½
 
Marcat
PuddinTame | Hi ha 1 ressenya més | Oct 6, 2007 |

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Obres
6
També de
9
Membres
255
Popularitat
#89,877
Valoració
4.2
Ressenyes
4
ISBN
30

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