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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Is there any scholar out there still claiming JA was hostile or indifferent to, or ambivalent about, Wollstonecraft's ideas?

I've been reviewing the literature of late to see if there is any scholar out there still claiming JA was hostile or indifferent to, or even ambivalent about, Wollstonecraft's vindication of the rights of woman, and I can't find any sign of such a scholar writing anything during the past 20 years.

Even though the question of the extent of JA's agreement with Wollstonecraft is still much in debate, it is my impression that the "last hurrah" of the notion of JA as a staunchly conservative defender of the status quo in regard to gender issues was Marilyn Butler's famous and influential book "Jane Austen and the War of Ideas", which was last reprinted, I believe in the late Eighties. Since then, from what i can see, there have been a number of books, including most visibly Claudia Johnson's, which have argued the "feminist" position, but nobody taking the other side. Have I missed something?

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