Part One British Novelists

Chapter I Jane Austen （1775～1817）

Life and the Literary Career

Major Themes in Austen’s Literary Works

Writing Style and Literary Techniques

Literary Achievements

Principal Works

Synopsis of Pride and Prejudice 

Exercises for Appreciation

An Excerpt from Chapter 3

Commentary of Chapter 3

True or False Questions

An Excerpt from Chapter 34

Commentary of Chapter 34

Multiple Choice Questions

An Excerpt from Chapter 43

Commentary of Chapter 43

Multiple Choice Questions

References

Chapter II Charles Dickens （1812～1870）

Life and the Literary Career

Major Themes in Dickens’s Literary Works

Writing Style and Literary Techniques

Literary Achievements

Principal Works

Synopsis of A Tale of Two Cities 

Exercises for Appreciation

Part One

British Novelists

Chapter I Jane Austen （1775～1817）

Life and the Literary Career

Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 into the rural professional middle classHer father，George Austen，was a country clergyman at Steventon，a small village in the southern English country of HampshireHer mother was from a higher social rank，minor gentry related distantly to titled people，but once she married the Reverend Austen in 1764 she entered wholeheartedly and with humor into the domestic life and responsibilities of managing a household economy by no means luxurious，bearing eight children——six sons and two daughtersAusten’s brothers，apart from Edward，went in for genteel but demanding professionsHer eldest brother，James （1765～1819），who had literary tastes and intellectual interests，followed his father’s path to StJohn’s College，Oxford，and eventually became his father’s successor as rector of SteventonHer second brother，George （1766～1838），was born handicapped and did not play a part in the family lifeThe third son was Edward （1767～1852），who was adopted by the Knights and took over the Knight estates in Kent and Hampshire in 1797The fourth child，Henry （1771～1850），was the liveliest，the most adventurous and the most speculative of the AustensLike James，he went to StJohn’s College，Oxford，but instead of taking orders upon graduation he joined the army，gave that up for the relatively ungenteel line of banking，and married his glamorous widowed cousin，Eliza de FeuillideWhen his bank failed in 1816 during the economic crisis following the Napoleonic Wars，he fell back on his father’s profession and became a clergymanThe next child，Cassandra （1773～1845），was Jane’s closest friend throughout her life and was known in the family for her steady character and sound judgmentThe two youngest Austen boys，Francis （1774～1865） and Charles （1779～1852），were trained at the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth，became officers，served in the French wars，and rose to the rank of admiralThe family members were readers，though more in literature of the day than abstruse learningThere was also a great deal of reading aloud in the Austen householdIt was not surprising in such a family for Jane Austen to take to writing before she was even in her teens，and for her to amuse her family throughout her adolescence with burlesques of various kinds of literature

The education of Austen and her sister was not nearly as thorough and systematic as that offered their brothersWhile the men would have to prepare for a profession and therefore spend their formative years accumulating intellectual and moral capital for the future，the only career open to women of the Austens’ class was that of wife and motherAfter two unsuccessful attempts to find a good boarding school，they returned home to educate themselves with extensive readingThrough a wide reading of books available in her father’s library，Austen acquired a thorough knowledge of eighteenth—century English literature，including the moral philosophy of Samuel Johnson，the poetry of William Cowper，as well as the novels by Samuel Richardson and Henry FieldingMost accounts agree that the sisters were pretty and enjoyed the slightly limited but interesting round of country partiesSeveral sources suggest that both Jane and Cassandra fell in love，but nothing came of itNeither sister marriedDuring this Steventon period，Austen wrote Northanger Abbey （1818），Sense and Sensibility （1811），and Pride and Prejudice （1813），but none was published until laterSense and Sensibility tells a story about two sisters and their love affairs；Pride and Prejudice，the most popular of her novels，deals with the five Bennet sisters and their search for suitable husbands；and Northanger Abbey satirizes those popular Gothic romances of the late 18th century

In January 1805，Austen’s father diedSince his clerical income ended with his death，his widow and daughters were faced with relative penury，but the Austen brothers pooled resources to maintain their mother and sisters，joined by their friend Martha Lloyd，in solid middle—class comfort at BathAlthough Austen had enjoyed the varied social scene at first，she eventually grew to dislike the place and its peopleShe continued to follow the career，both at sea and ashore，of her brother FrancisFrancis married in 1806 and invited his mother and sisters to share his house at SouthamptonThey joined him thereWhen Francis was again away at sea the Austen women were left to a quiet and retired existence，gardening，visiting Edward Austen and his large family in Kent and Henry Austen in London，and following news of the war in SpainAusten became especially close to Edward’s daughter Fanny，then in her teens；it was a lifelong friendshipWhen Edward’s wife died in late 1808，his mother and sisters comforted the familyEdward offered them the choice of a comfortable house on one of his estates，in Kent and Hampshire，so that they would be closerThey chose a house at Chawton，in Kent not far from their early home at SteventonIn summer 1809 they moved to Chawton，where Austen would live until her final illnessLife at Chawton was simple and neither mean nor grandAt this house，Austen was to revise her manuscripts that became Sense and Sensibility，Pride and Prejudice，and Northanger Abbey and to write Mansfield Park （1814），Emma （1815），and Persuasion （1818）Mansfield Park presents the antithesis of worldliness and unworldliness；Emma gives the thought over self—deceptive vanity；and Persuasion contrasts the true love with the prudential calculationsAusten wanted to avoid the notoriety of authorshipThus none of the book carried her nameEvading all attention was impossible after their success，however，and Austen dedicated Emma to the Prince Regent at his request

As a novelist Jane Austen deliberately restricted what she wrote about，and her work gains intensity and beauty from its narrow focusThe subject matter，the character range，the social setting，and plots are all restricted to the provincial life of the late 18th century England，concerning three or four landed gentry families with their daily routine life：relationships with members of their own family and with their friends，dancing parties，tea parties，picnics，and gossipsIn her novels，there is little reflection on the events that stirred the whole Europe at the time——the French Revolution of 1789～94 and of the Napoleonic Wars that followedEverything in her novels results in an observation of a quiet，uneventful and contented life of the English countryAusten’s life was also limited to family and a few close friends，and she prized being thought a warm and loving aunt as much as being thought a successful novelistIn 1817，it became evident that she was ill with a serious complaint whose symptoms seem to have been those of Addison’s diseaseIt made her stop work on the novel Sanditon （1925）To be near medical help，she and Cassandra moved to lodgings in Winchester in May，1817Austen died there less than two months later

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