A Comparative Study Of Feminist Elements In The Novels Of Frances Burney And Jane Austen

This thesis compares the feminist-oriented narrative discourse in the novels of Frances Burney and Jane Austen in light of Locke's materialist epistemology,Wollstonecraft's feminist ideas,and Genette's narrative theory.The changes in social and cultural conditions in eighteenth-century England have significantly impacted on the two authors'consciousness and novel writing.In depicting the contemporary social landscape and customs,as well as home environment,living conditions,and marriage choices of English women in those times of change,Burney and Austen offer their respective views regarding the constraints on women by traditional views on feminine conduct and morality as they try to achieve self-consciousness and self-expression.Through the medium of novel,Burney and Austen participate in the eighteenth-century social debates,commenting on patriarchy's definition of femininity,exhibiting a range of difficulties faced by women at home and in society,and offering their insights into the heart of the matter.Yet owing to the differences in family background,life experience,and writing career,Burney and Austen demonstrate different understandings of such female issues as female difficulties and female morality,which are shown in their respectively unique novelistic expression.A comparative study of feminist elements in the novels of Burney and Austen may deepen our understanding of their critical thinking on female issues,of the different correlation between feminist ideas and novel writing,and of the role which women novels play in the transforming years of eighteenth-century England.Burney and Austen express their respective feminist views in terms of female education and female morality.First,both authors oppose the traditional program of female education focusing on female arts.They agree with Locke's epistemological ideas and believe that the core of female education is raising the level of women's cognitive power in social practice Secondly,they both reject the feminine virtues celebrated by female conduct books,and encourage women to use their rational minds to evaluate the influence of economic and emotional factors on morality,in order to make the right moral choice at important junctures From the perspective of narrative discourse,the two novelists,by taking advantage of traditional narrative techniques,develop their own narrative strategies to express their themes and ideas.It is fair to say that the novel-writing of Burney and Austen is of great importance to the rise and development of women novels in England in the late eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century.In China,Burney study is still in the early stage.There are only a few articles and some running commentary in books on the history of the British novel on Burney and her works.Frances Burney,as the woman author admired by Austen,has not really caught the eye of Chinese readers and researchers alike.Scholars in general tend to know only that Burney has an important influence on Austen,but they are not clear what that influence is and how that influence comes about,not to mention how Austen surpassed Burney.I was able to consult the rich archival materials on Burney as well as the abundant materials on eighteenth-century English Literature in genral as joint training Ph.D.Student at the Burney Centre of McGill University.The professors,research scholars,and Ph.D.candidates there also offer me great advices.I hope my research may fill up this gap of domestic Burney study to some degree.The thesis consists of 5 chapters.Chapter 1 gives a general introduction to the social,philosophical,and cultural backgrounds of eighteenth-century England,the debate between traditional female morality and progressive female thoughts,as well as the family environment,educational background,and writing career of Burney and Austen.Taking advantage of the existing studies on Burney and Austen's views on women,this thesis compares the two authors' views on female education,female morality,and narrative discourse expressed through their novels.Chapter 2 explores Burney and Austen's views on female education.By analyzing the three stages of their heroines' educational processes—the primary stage,the practical stage,and the reflective stage—? try to interpret both authors'ideas on female cognitive growth.Chapter 3 analyzes female morality in the novels of Burney and Austen.Burney and Austen recognize the positive as well as negative effects of economics and sensibility on female morality,and show how their heroines make the right moral choice in marriage by balancing the two factors.Chapter 4 draws on contemporary narrative theory to compare and examine the different kinds of narrative discourse conducted by Burney and Austen,especially the strategies in narrative structure,narrative perspective,narrative time,and narrative style which differs from those of male novelists.The narrative effects on the representation of feminist elements thus achieved will also be discussed.Chapter 5 reviews and summarizes the main points of the thesis.