Jane Austen’s six complete novels and her juvenilia are examined in the context of civil society and gender. Steiner’s study uses a variety of contexts to appraise Austen’s work: Scottish Enlightenment theories of societal development, early-Romantic discourses on gender roles, modern sociological theories on the civilizing process.
Introduction; Chapter 1 The Juvenilia: Untying the Knots; Chapter 2 Lady Susan and Northanger Abbey : Riot in the Brain; Chapter 3 Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice : Allowing for Difference; Chapter 4 Mansfield Park : Emancipating ‘Puny’ Fanny Price; Chapter 5 Emma : The Art of Quarrelling; Chapter 6 Persuasion : Developing an ‘Elasticity of Mind’;
