The Talk in Jane Austen

Li-Ping Geng is a visiting assistant professor of English at the
Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is the author of The Loiterer
and Jane Austen’s Literary Identity.

This collection of essays, based on papers read at a regional Jane
Austen conference held in Canada in May 1999, focuses on Jane Austen’s
inimitable use of language in narrative discourse, especially the nice
nuance in dialogue. The 15 essays, arranged in four sections
(“Categories and Analysis,” “Aggression and Power,” “Subtexts
and Ironies,” and “Speculations and Possibilities”) shed abundant
light on our understanding of Austen’s wonderful skill in using
dialogue and personal idiom to present character. The critical analysis
is not only refreshing, even for a well-read Austen aficionado, but also
firmly grounded in the historical period to which Austen’s fiction
belongs. The writers show not the least tendency to impose their
idiosyncratic views on Austen’s works; every insight is based on what
Austen actually wrote. As a result, the volume is a valuable and
enjoyable critical source for Austen lovers and scholars alike. The
witty style of the essays in general does justice to one of the most
delightful and sensible English ironists. The essays by such eminent
Austen scholars as Jocelyn Harris and Juliet McMaster are particularly
informative.

The volume’s high quality of editing is also laudable—only one
slip: a critic misuses “Edward” for “Edmund” while discussing
Mansfield Park.