Jane Austen and the War of Ideas

by Marilyn Butler

It is often said that Jane Austen in the countryside remained isolated from the great events of her time. But as Marilyn Butler points out in Jane Austen and the War of Ideas , Austen was not isolated from reading novels, and novels carried controversy. The sentimental novel of the previous generation, the Jacobin novel of William Godwin, the philosophical comedy of Robert Bage and Maria Edgeworth--all conveyed their own kind of ideological meaning. By recognizing Austen's relationship to the literature of ideas, Butler offers acute readings of each of the novels and an intellectual context in which to see them as a whole.

Genres: Literary Criticism, Nonfiction, Writing, Literature, Criticism, History, Biography

350 pages, Paperback

First published March 10, 1988

About the author

Marilyn Butler, Lady Butler, FRSL FRSA FBA was a British literary critic. She was Rector of Exeter College, Oxford, from 1993 to 2004, and was King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge from 1986 to 1993.

She was educated at Wimbledon High School and St Hilda's College, Oxford.

Her published works include Romantics, Rebels and Reactionaries and Jane Austen and the War of Ideas.
Much of her work has been devoted to the career of the Anglo-Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth, including a classic literary biography of Maria Edgeworth and an important collected edition of Edgeworth's works for Pickering & Chatto.

She was married to David Butler; the couple had three sons. In June 2003 she was awarded an honorary degree from the Open University as Doctor of the University. Butler was a Fellow of the British Academy.

Reviews

[Lona Manning · Rating 5 out of 5]

The depth and breadth of Marilyn Butler's knowledge of the long 18th century and the "War of ideas" between (broadly speaking) Jacobins and anti-Jacobins (pro and anti-French Revolution) is humbling. She shows how Austen's novels relate to the prevailing philosophical, moral and political debates of her time. She discusses dozens of other novels written during that period, and shows how novels were used to advocate for social reform, or to teach lessons about the perils of straying from conventional morality. Butler argues that of the two camps, Austen's novels "belong decisively to one class of partisan novels, the conservative... Her important innovations are technical and stylistic modifications within a clearly defined and accepted genre."
Now that her rivals have dropped away into obscurity,* Austen and her work stands alone, and the modern reader does not have the benefit of understanding the milieu Austen grew up in, and the way her novels made a contribution to a national conversation. For example, many people wonder why it was such a big deal that young people would entertain themselves by putting on a play in a country house. Butler says of Lover's Vows, the play featured in Mansfield Park: "modern commentators sometimes underrate how notorious it was; how critics and satirists from the Anti-Jacobin (journal) had made it a byword for moral and social subversion."
And while Austen's novels can be studied in the context of the "War of Ideas," they are also novels about people who go through crises and suffer and redeem themselves from their errors. The plots revolve around how Darcy overcomes his pride, Elizabeth overcomes her prejudice and Emma realizes she's been deluding herself and hurting other people.
I read this book in short doses with a highliter in my hand, and I think I'll refer back to it again and again to really absorb all the ideas and information presented.

*(Even the best known of them, like Burney and Radcliffe, have a small readership today compared to Austen).

[B · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating perspective on Jane Austen. The author shows how Jane Austen was involved in the "war of ideas" of her time, coming out strongly on the Christian, conservative side of the debate. Honestly the first half of the book is difficult to read; unless you are a scholar, very familiar with other books of Austen's time, you might want to just read the introduction and chapter 1, then skip the rest of the first part, and go straight to Part II about Austen. That part, though, is very much worth reading; each chapter gave me new insights into what Austen was trying to say. As the author points out, we need to understand books in terms of the author's intentions and the world they were writing to, to give us a foundation for whatever applications we want to make today, and Butler does a great job of that.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't say I 100% agree with everything Butler has to say, but this is readable and has a lot of interesting points to it, as well as providing the literary context of an era I'm not super familiar with - I'll definitely be noting down some of those radical novels for future reading. I do wish that I could read a criticism of Austen that doesn't assume that Fanny's a complete failure of a character that no one could possibly empathise with or care about, though!

[Dori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Butler puts a bit too much stock in what Austen intended to say (morally, politically) and not enough in what she said, but her contextualization of JA is thorough, and her readings of the six novels pristine. You won’t catch me arguing against Austen’s conservatism again. You will catch me reading a rebuttal.

[Ginger Gonzales-Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting (academic) treatment of Austen's work. It occassionally borders on assuming an Anti-Jacobin indoctrination rather than giving Austen due credit, but I think, overall, it's a really interesting and accurate depiction of Austen.

[Dallin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for research. Really important work in Austen scholarship. Really well written.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marilyn Butler knows her Jane Austen. You might not agree with her readings 100% of the time but she’ll challenge you to re-think your own. Deservedly gaining classic status.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good but definitely academic.

[Josh Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wrote a longer thing about this on my blog - here.