EmmaJane Austen’s Emma (1816) tells the story of the coming of age of Emma Woodhouse, “handsome, clever, and rich,” who “had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.” Typical for the novel’s time, Emma’s transition to womanhood is accomplished through courtship—both of those around her and, ultimately, her own. As in other Austen works, education and courtship go hand in hand, and Emma’s process of learning to relinquish the power of having her own way is also a process of falling in love. However, in Emma this classic plot is both complicated by and reflective of a collection of contemporary issues, assumptions, and anxieties that highlight just how “political” even the most conventional of courtship plots can be. This Broadview edition includes a critical introduction and an extensive collection of historical documents relating to the composition and reception of the novel, the social implications of England’s shift from a rural agrarian to an urban industrial economy, the role of women in provincial society, and the contemporary preoccupation with health and the treatment of illness. |
Contents
A Brief Chronology | 47 |
A Note on the Text | 49 |
Emma | 51 |
The Composition and Reception of the Novel | 407 |
2 Austens Plan of a Novel According to Hints from Various Quarters | 412 |
3 Review of Emma by Sir Walter Scott The Quarterly Review 18151816 | 414 |
4 Critical Notices of Emma The British Critic 1816 The Gentlemans Magazine 1816 | 422 |
Social Class and Landed Society | 425 |
2 From Notices Concerning the Scottish Gypsies Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine April 1817 | 432 |
3 From William Blackstone Commentaries on the Laws of England 1765 | 435 |
Women Married and Unmarried | 437 |
2 From Hannah More Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education 1799 | 438 |
3 From the Journals and Letters of Agnes Porter 17911811 | 439 |
The Social Meaning of Illness | 443 |
2 From The Gentlemens Magazine December 1815 | 444 |
3 From Thomas Trotter A View of the Nervous Temperament 1807 | 447 |
2 From Jane Austen The History of England | 426 |
3 From Edmund Burke On Taste London 1756 | 427 |
4 From Samuel Richardson The History of Sir Charles Grandison 1754 | 429 |
The Landless Gypsies and Bastards | 431 |
The Sale of Human Intellect | 449 |
Select Bibliography | 451 |