ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Jane Austen’s (1775–1817) distinctive literary style relies on a combination of parody, burlesque, irony, free indirect speech and a degree of realism. She uses parody and burlesque for comic effect and to critique the portrayal of women in 18th-century sentimental and Gothic novels.

Detailed explanation-2: -Jane Austen also made extensive use of a style known as “free indirect discourse” or “free indirect style” – a literary technique in which the narrator’s voice appears to take on properties of the character’s voice to the extent that as a reader you are not quite sure who owns the words or thoughts (see below).

Detailed explanation-3: -The majority of Jane Austen’s novels are comedies in the traditional sense (the protagonists live happily ever after), but they’re also packed with complex characters, satire and edgy social commentary. Through her stories, Austen subtly exposed the gossips, social climbers and unspoken rules of her time.

Detailed explanation-4: -Jane Austen prized accuracy of detail and what she called credibility. Such qualities give her novels great realism, the feeling that you have seen the places she describes and known her characters personally. She depicted the domestic life of the Regency period with photographic realism.