Jane Austen and Leisure

Jane Austen and Leisure
ISBN-10
0826446671
ISBN-13
9780826446671
Category
History
Pages
376
Language
English
Published
1998-07-01
Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing
Author
David Selwyn

Description

Jane Austen's novels portray a leisured society of gentlemen and ladies who do not need to work. Even the minority of clergymen, soldiers and sailors - men with professions - are almost never seen working. Jane Austen herself, despite responsibility for some domestic tasks, wrote as a woman of leisure. Yet leisure, the distinguishing mark of a gentleman, was not meant to be an excuse for idleness. The proper use of leisure to fulfil duties, to read and to think, and above all to pursue social relations in a world where family and marriage for the propertied was of central importance, was a vital test of character.

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