英国文学选读unit7课件.ppt

Unit7 Jane Austen (1775-1817) Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen (1775-1817) Jane Austen was the first to write novels of realism in the 19th century, though she spent most of her lifetime in the 18th century. Specially she was the writer of the two centuries, and her works were the product in the crossing of the two centuries. Jane Austen was born in a country clergyman’s family in Hamspshire of Southern England in 1775 and remained single all her life. She was educated at home and received a good education. Her life was notable for lack of events. She began to write at an early age, but at first had difficulty in getting them published .Later on when her works were really published they were only published anonymously, partly because of the prejudice prevailing at the time against woman writers and partly because of her aversion(反感，厌恶) to publicity and popularity. Living a quiet life in the countryside, Austin chiefly wrote about the small world she lived in, about the very narrow world of rural gentry(上层阶级) and clergy, and there is no heroic passions nor astounding adventures in her novels. Therefore she is regarded as the founder of the novel which deals with unimportant middle class people. She is also notable for her extraordinary power of keen observation and penetrating analysis. Most of her novels depict the loves and marriages of the young people. Further more Austen’s novels are not devoid(缺乏的) of satire or irony. The tile tells of a major concern of the novel pride and prejudice. If to form good relations is our main task in life and we must first have good judgment. Our first impressions, according to Jane Austen, are usually wrong, as is shown here by those of Elizabeth. In the process of judging others, Elizabeth finds out something about herself, her blindness, partiality, prejudice and absurdity. In time she discovers her own shortcomings. On the other hand, Darcy too learns about other people and himself. In the end false pride is humbled and preju