Jane Austen''s Business is a collection of essays that demonstrates Austen knew her business. She presents with memorable distinctness not only ''what sees keenly, speaks aptly, moves flexibly'' but also ''what throbs fast and full'' (Charlotte Bronte''s phrases). Many of these essays, including those by Julia Prewitt Brown, Margaret Drabble, Jan Fergus, Isobel Grundy, Gary Kelly, and Elaine Showalter, are based on papers given at the Lake Louise conference on Persuasion. The collection''s culmination is a short story by Margaret Drabble that brings Austen''s Elliots of Kellynch Hall into the twentieth century.
