Jane Austen's Women

Kathleen Anderson is Professor of English at Palm Beach Atlantic University and the coauthor (with Susan Jones) of Jane Austen's Guide to Thrift: An Independent Woman's Advice on Living Within One's Means.

"The volume serves scholars and casual readers alike and contains both fresh ideas and helpful summaries of previous Austen criticism … With its lively style, careful scholarship, and inspired interpretations, Jane Austen's Women is a valuable addition to the literature that validates its author's temerity." — JASNA News"Kathleen Anderson's comprehensive and wide-ranging study of women in Jane Austen's six novels maps out thematic patterns and character types in an almost encyclopaedic manner … Anderson's methodology is unique and sophisticated." — Eighteenth-Century Fiction"Recognizing the appeal of Jane Austen in popular culture, Anderson has written an introduction that will be accessible to and interest a general audience but also draws from academic criticism." — CHOICE"Jane Austen's Women examines aspects of Austen's female characters in new ways. Anderson thoroughly and competently sifts through the many meanings of 'womanhood' in Austen's time and, directly or by implication, in our own. It was a pleasure to read this delightful analysis accompanied by illuminating references to our own contemporary culture." — Susan Ostrov Weisser, author of The Glass Slipper: Women and Love Stories"Jane Austen's Women hits the sweet spot between delightful critical introduction and inspiring guidebook for how to live out Austen's vision of what Kathleen Anderson calls 'the heroinism of everyday life.' Her discerning close readings of female bodies, emotions, intelligence, work, and love combine lucid interpretation with strong insight. This book will prompt readers of Austen, whether seasoned or beginning, to return to Austen's novels with vital questions and renewed energy." — Devoney Looser, author of The Making of Jane Austen

• AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsPreface: "Nobody doubts her right to have precedence": Jane Austen's Heroine as Universal SubjectPart I: Women and the Body: Strength, Sex, and Austenian Wellness 1. "I am strong enough now to walk very well": Vigor and Femininity in Mansfield Park2. "I always deserve the best treatment, because I never put up with any other": Sexual Orthodoxy and the Quest for the Best MatePart II: Women's Natures: Mood, Mind, Spirit, and Female Giftedness 3. "Determined to Be Happy": The Path to Emotional Health in Sense and SensibilityJordan L. Von Cannon, Co-author4. "Ingenious or Stupid?": Women's Intelligences, according to "the most unlearned and uninformed female who ever dared to be an authoress"5. "Born to Be Connected": Female Monasticism and Vocation in Austen's NovelsPart III. Women and Others: The Female Self in Environmental, Social, and Imaginative Space 6. "Mamma says I am never within": Heroines' Eco-affinities as Identityscapes7. "What is the foolish girl about?": Austen's Feminist Fools Speak Out8. "Unpropitious for Heroism": Female Greatness in the Austenian ImaginationNotesWorks CitedIndex