Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/34931
Appears in Collections:Literature and Languages Book Chapters and Sections
Title: 'Possessing a most exquisite taste in every species of literature': Reading, Moral Taste and Creative Action in Jane Austen's Novels
Author(s): Halsey, Katherine
Contact Email: katherine.halsey@stir.ac.uk
Citation: Halsey K (2023) 'Possessing a most exquisite taste in every species of literature': Reading, Moral Taste and Creative Action in Jane Austen's Novels. In: <i>The Edinburgh Companion to Jane Austen and the Arts</i>. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/
Keywords: Jane Austen, Creative Process, Reading, Intertextuality, Writing
Issue Date: 2024
Date Deposited: 23-Feb-2023
Abstract: In Henry Austen’s ‘Biographical Notice of the Author’, written shortly after Jane Austen’s death in 1817, he dwells briefly on her artistic talents, focussing on her drawing, music and dancing, and then moving on to discuss her talent for reading aloud (which she did ‘with very great taste and effect’) and her reading choices (in which Henry emphasized ‘the natural discrimination of her mind’ and her excellent and judicious taste). Henry’s account was expanded and embroidered by James Edward Austen-Leigh in his own 1870 Memoir of Jane Austen, and in both cases, Austen’s male relatives interestingly align the practice of reading with the creative arts (music, drawing, dancing, embroidery, and writing), in the service of creating an overall picture of Jane Austen’s ‘exquisite taste’ in all things. In this chapter, I consider Austen’s reading as a kind of artistic practice both in its own right, and in relation to her writing practices.
Rights: This item has been embargoed for a period. During the embargo please use the Request a Copy feature at the foot of the Repository record to request a copy directly from the author. You can only request a copy if you wish to use this work for your own research or private study.
URL: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-edinburgh-companion-to-jane-austen-and-the-arts.html

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