Language of Jane Austen

Joe Bray is Professor of Language and Literature at the University of Sheffield, UK. He is the author of The Epistolary Novel: Representations of Consciousness (2003), The Female Reader in the English Novel (2009), The Portrait in Fiction of the Romantic Period (2016), and co-editor of, amongst others, The Routledge Companion to Experimental Literature (2012).

• Introduction.- Chapter 1: Point of View.- Chapter 2: The Representation of Speech.- Chapter 3: The Representation of Thought.- Chapter 4: The Representation of Writing.- Chapter 5: Morality and Vulgarity.- Chapter 6: Balance and Disharmony.- Chapter 7: Literal and Figurative.- Conclusion: After Reading.

“Joe Bray’s book is a refreshing departure from this prescription. In it, Professor Bray proposes to reacquaint us with the sophistication and experimental nature of Austen’s way with language, characterisation, and narrative technique through a series of close readings of key passages from her fiction using the analytic tools of modern stylistics. … Joe Bray has written an interesting and informative study, a useful guide for students wishing to understand the texture of Austen’s language.” (Kathryn Sutherland, Cercles, cercles.com, February, 2019)​