Jane Austen, Abolitionist: The Loaded History of the Phrase "Pride and Prejudice"
It is important that Jane Austen read novels, but it is also important that she did not adopt their style except as she chose—as in the passage quoted, where the satirically self-interrupting, almost pedantic style of the local community orator sets up an abrupt ending of sentence, suspense, and novel. She used other elements of popular fiction, in fun or in earnest, but for style she was as likely to be influenced by the best in nonfiction books and periodicals, including writing by men—who as Anne Elliot remarks mostly held the pen—as well as by women. Looking through the catalogue of works using “pride and prejudice” around her in her lifetime opens a window onto Austen’s artistic options and offers a glimpse into an artistic decision of brilliant simplicity, to marry a ‘feminine’ sensibility that women’s lives matter with a ‘masculine’ concision and confidence.