Jane Austen and Leisure

By David Selwyn

Jane Austen's novels portray a leisured society of gentlemen and ladies who do not need to work. Even the minority of clergymen, soldiers and sailors - men with professions - are almost never seen working. Jane Austen herself, despite responsibility for some domestic tasks, wrote as a woman of leisure. Yet leisure, the distinguishing mark of a gentleman, was not meant to be an excuse for idleness. The proper use of leisure to fulfil duties, to read and to think, and above all to pursue social relations in a world where family and marriage for the propertied was of central importance, was a vital test of character.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1852851716
• ISBN13: 9781852851712
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: Continnuum-3PL
• Length: 376 Pages
• Weight: 1.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.2"