Jane Austen [ Art and Literature ]
… plots pivot around episodes of sociability for which romantic love is the energising force. The arrival into the community of ‘a single man in possession of a good fortune’ signals opportunities for both sociability and courtship. 9 … communication. Covert affairs, like that of Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill in Emma , are seen to destabilise the community until they can be openly acknowledged. Ideally, the ‘little social commonwealth’ of an Uppercross or a Meryton …
Courtship | Fiction | Gender | Public sphere
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