Jane Austen: The Novels, and: The Author's Inheritance: Henry Fielding, Jane Austen, and the Establishment of the Novel (review)

REVIEWS 375 whereas Certeau is primarily concerned with the subversive everyday practices of the people he calls "non-producers of culture," Charrière was an active producer of culture, an unusually well-educated woman, as well as an aristocrat who enjoyed lifelong material security. The point here is not simply that her works should be read from the perspective of class as well as gender, but rather that by emphasizing the overarching practice of intellectual tacking, Letzter risks erasing the positive thrust of Charrière's political and pedagogical ideas. In some instances, these ideas exhibit genuine contradictions that reflect not only a tactical use ofperspectivism, but also, for example, Charrière's complex relationship to Rousseau. The scholarly strengths of Intellectual Tacking are occasionally the source of minor weaknesses. The chronological presentation of a large number of texts sometimes dilutes the focus on education. One might wish for greater depth in the presentation of the educational theories and institutions of the period; Letzter's extensive knowledge of the secondary literature on Charrière at times leads her simply to endorse the prevailing critical view, rather than developing original interpretations. These reservations aside, this well-written and cogently argued book strongly recommends itself to readers seeking a detailed exposition of Charrière's thought. Madeleine Dobie Tulane University Nicholas Marsh. Jane Austen: The Novels. Analysing Texts. New York: St Martin's Press, 1998. xii + 276pp. US$55.00 (cloth); US$19.95 (paper). ISBN 0-312-21370. Jo AIyson Parker. The Author's Inheritance: Henry Fielding, JaneAusten, and the Establishment ofthe Novel. DeKaIb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1998. US$36.00. ISBN 0-87580-239-7. These two books have very different aims. Each is valuable for what it sets out to do; with one or two drawbacks each is in the main successful. Jane Austen: The Novels is intended for the tyro student of literature who needs to know how to approach a text independently and with confidence. The author recommends close reading as the most effective tool and shows clearly and simply how this sort of engagement with a text can cause it to yield up its subtleties and be read in depth. With this technique clearly to the fore, Nicholas Marsh takes the student carefully through the main themes, characters, and narrative preoccupations of four of the novels (omitting all but passing references to Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility), with particular emphasis on Austen 's brand ofirony. So farthis is admirably adapted to its purpose. Thepedagogical agenda, however, is inevitably rather restricting, and the author has found it difficult to sustain his avowed aim—to allow students in the last analysis to form their 376 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION 11:3 own conclusions. He sometimes leads them too easily into traditional received opinion about Austen. For instance, it is still an open question whether Austen was motivated by a conservative or subversive impulse—or indeed by neither. Marsh wishes to leave the matter open, but in his anxiety to keep his presentation simple enough for his putative readers, he sometimes finds himself unable to do this. At some points in the study he assumes a didactic motivation for Austen; for instance, he sees her "revealing general truths about government and the structure of English society" (p. 96); at others, he denies this: "Jane Austen is an ironical observer, not a writer with a radical or social agenda" (p. 128). This could be confusing for the implied reader ofthebook. Furthermore, he sometimes closes offpotentially fruitful critical areas with categorical statements, noticeably in his discussions of the "structure" of Mansfield Park, where he divides the characters into groups which are overdetermined and to some extent tendentious. For instance, Mansfield is said to stand "for the orderly virtues Sir Thomas believes in" and London for their opposite: "In contrast to this, London is depicted as a dangerous place where people pursue pleasure, excitement and vanity" (p. 67)—from another standpoint exactly those things being pursued by most of the inhabitants of Mansfield. In the discussion of character in Emma, there are apparently closed assessments—for instance, it is not at all clear from Mr Knightley's remonstrances about Harriet that...