The essays collected in Jane Austen and the Arts; Elegance, Propriety, and Harmony examine Austen's understanding of the arts, her aesthetic philosophy, and her role as artist. Together, they explore Austen's connections with Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Madame de Stael, Joanna Baillie, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, and other writers engaged in debates on the sensuous experience and the intellectual judgment of art. Our contributors look at Austen's engagement with diverse art forms, painting, ballet, drama, poetry, and music, investigating our topic within historically grounded and theoretically nuanced essays. They represent Austen as a writer-thinker reflecting on the nature and practice of artistic creation and considering the social, moral, psychological, and theological functions of art in her fiction. We suggest that Austen knew, modified, and transformed the dominant aesthetic discourses of her era, at times ironically, to her own artistic ends. As a result, a new, and compelling image of Austen emerges, a "portrait of a lady artist" confidently promoting her own distinctly post-enlightenment aesthetic system.
Natasha Duquette is associate professor and chair of the English Department at Biola University in Southern California. Elisabeth Lenckos teaches at the University of Chicago's Graham School.
Contents Acknowledgments Preface: Jane Austen's Critique of Aesthetic Judgment by Vivasvan Soni Introduction by Natasha Duquette and Elisabeth Lenckos I. The Fine Arts in Austen's World: Music, Dance, and Portraiture "Daily Practice, Musical Accomplishment, and the Example of Jane Austen" Kathryn Libin Chapter 2 - "A 'Reputation for Accomplishment': Marianne Dashwood and Emma Woodhouse as Artistic Performers" by Kelly McDonald Chapter 3 - "Miss Bingley's Walk: The Aesthetics of Movement in Pride and Prejudice" by Erin Smith Chapter 4 - "The Sister Artist: Cassandra Austen's Portraits of Jane Austen in Art-Historical Context" by Jeffrey Nigro II. Austen and Romanticism: Female Genius, Gothicism, and Sublimity Chapter 5 - "Portrait of a Lady (Artist): Jane Austen's Anne Elliot, Madame de Stael's Corrine, and the Woman of Genius Novel" by Elisabeth Lenckos Chapter 6 - "Jane Austen's Comic Heroines and the Controversial Pleasures of Wit" by Belisa Monteiro Chapter 7 - "An Adaptable Aesthetic: Eighteenth-Century Landscapes, Ann Radcliffe, and Jane Austen" by Alice Davenport Chapter 8 - "Exploring the Transformative Power of Literature: Joanna Baillie, Jane Austen and the Aesthetics of Moral Reform" by Christine Colon Chapter 9 - "Jane Austen's Influence on Stephenie Meyer" by Deborah Kennedy III. Austen in Political, Social, and Theological Context Chapter 10 - "Aesthetics, Politics, and the Interpretation of Mansfield Park" by Russell Perkin Chapter 11 - "Reflections on Mirrors: Austen, Rousseau, and Socio-Politics" by Melora Vandersluis Chapter 12 - "'So much novelty and beauty!': Spacious Reception through an Aesthetic of Restraint in Persuasion" by Jessica Brown Chapter 13 -"Augustinian Aesthetics in Jane Austen's World: God as Artist" by Diane Capitani Chapter 14 -"'Delicacy of Taste' Redeemed: The Aesthetic Judgments of Austen's Clergymen Heroes" by Fred and Natasha Duquette
