PersuasionCLASSIC FICTION (PRE C 1945). Jane Austen's last and most melancholy novel was published posthumously in 1818. In PERSUASION, Austen creates a strong, mature, and independent heroine, Anne Elliot. Having foolishly broken off an engagement eight years earlier to Frederick Wentworth, a penniless naval officer, Anne at the age of 27 has remained unmarried--and secretly devoted to Wentworth. Living with her vain, self-absorbed, and (of course) ridiculous father, Anne is sinking gently into a resigned spinsterhood when Wentworth, who has gained wealth and a name for himself, comes back into her life. Set in 1814 and 1815, PERSUASION was written in 1816, when Jane Austen was already ill; perhaps her decline left its mark on the novel. PERSUASION, however, while more serious in tone than Austen's other works--and, interestingly, more attuned to landscape and the beauties of nature--retains her gift for satire and her sometimes mordant wit. |
Contents
Section 1 | 3 |
Section 2 | 13 |
Section 3 | 19 |
Section 4 | 23 |
Section 5 | 30 |
Section 6 | 58 |
Section 7 | 85 |
Section 8 | 91 |
Section 9 | 136 |
Section 10 | 163 |
Section 11 | 181 |
Section 12 | 189 |
Common terms and phrases
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