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Jane Austen's Use Of The Epistolary Method, Barbara Tavss Bender

Master's Theses

There is . . . a prominent use of letters within the novels of Jane Austen. It has been shown that she wao influenced by Samuel Richardson and Fanny Burney and that she had a long experimental period of almost exclusive use of the epistolary method. It is from their influence and from her experimentation that the six major novels evolved; this supreme achievement was to give their creator a prominent place in the history of the English novel. No one factor can be cited as Miss Austen 's outstanding contribution, for each novel is a synthesis of many superior …