ONIRONYINSENSEANDSENSIBILITY_开题报告

Literature Review

Since R. Simpson first put forward the concept of irony in 1870, many scholars have interpreted Austen’s irony from every aspect in more than one hundred years. D. W. Harding’s discussion from the angle of psychology and M. Mudrick’s study from the angle of ideology are both very representative. D. W. Harding, with the essay Regulated Hatred and Other Essays on Jane Austen views Jane Austen as subversive, attacking her society from within, producing an “ungentle Jane” which is anti-tradition (Harding, 1998: 128). The rise of pragmatics, psycholinguistics and cognitive linguistics in the twentieth century provides a new perspective for the research of irony. 

In the nineteenth century, many other novelists belittled Austen’s works, such as Charlotte Bronte, William Wordsworth, Mark Twain and Emerson. Obviously, these novelists denied Austen, not so much because they do no like this positive and selfless spirit, as because they are romanticists. But Austen belongs more to the literary tradition based on rationalism of the eighteenth century. They cannot understand her satire and humor. In short, in the criticism of nineteenth century, Austen did not get her proper position in the history of literature and novels. All contents of her artistic heritage had not been excavated.

 “In 1870, R. Simpson first put forward the concept of irony, which made the works of Austen’s thought completely change, and also solved her complex artistic conception” (Li, 2008: 80-82). In this thesis, the thought and art are unified — Austen evaluated social life with her “irony”. Simpson’s view only presented in prototype form, but it marked a new understanding of Austen’s thought and art. As D. C. Muecke said, “All good literature is essentially ironic” (Muecke, 1969: 10). 

Clayton Meeker Hamilton in Materials and Methods of Fiction made an analysis about the fiction: character, plot, setting and point of view in narrative (Hamilton, 1908: 55). 

Mary Lascelles’s Jane Austen and Her Art (1963) presents a new Austen — a highly sensitive, self-conscious artist in front of readers and scholars. She starts with a largely persuasive, detailed response to the life and letters. And the last two thirds of the text are close reading of Austen’s art, broadly construed through categories like “style” and “narrative art”. 

What’s more, Norman Page’s The Language of Jane Austen (1972) seeks to study and analyze both the distinctive nature and the degree of delicacy of Jane Austen’s language style and narrative art. This work begins with a long general chapter of “Style in Jane Austen’s novels” and discusses some key-words in each of them. 

In recent years, Lin Wenchen (1991: 67-69) points out, 

Austen’s main contribution of using irony for characterization was: by using rich irony to portray ‘a cartoon like character’, applying it in the heroine’s characterization universally, revealing their superior and inferior personalities as well as their developing process. It had a great significance in the fiction history, which was a precedent to portray a perfect positive hero by means of irony. 

Lin Wenchen also thought Austen’s narrative character lied on irony. Although “the outside structure” of Austen’s six novels was quite different, their inner structure was the same from “the irony perspective” (Lin, 1991: 67-69). 

Hou Li in Appreciation of Jane Austen’s Ironic Art in Pride and Prejudice said, “Irony is the most striking feature in Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice employs the ironic technique in characterization and structure, which has made a great realistic comic work of the novel” (Hou, 2010: 31). And I found many scholars in China made a detailed analysis of Austen’s irony in Pride and Prejudice. 

About Austen’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, Wang Xinchun and Kang Chunyan’s The Change of Feminist Consciousness from Sense and Sensibility — Analysis of Sense and Sensibility focuses on analyzing Marianne’s character changing from sensibility and sentiment to good sense and realism, because of Elinor’s effect and her own misfortune (Wang & Kang, 2007: 111-113). 

However, about the irony in Sense and Sensibility, I only find Liang Yufeng’s master thesis: Pragmatic Analysis of Irony in Sense and Sensibility (2009). He thought irony is one of the most outstanding features in Sense and Sensibility, and made a detailed analysis of it by applying Austin and Searle’s SAT. This paper focuses on the analysis of verbal irony. 

Thesis Proposal

1. Introduction

2. Literature Review   

3. Introduction of Irony 

4. Analysis of Irony in Sense and Sensibility 

4.1 Verbal Irony 

4.2 Dramatic Irony 

4.3 Situational Irony  

4.4 General Irony

5. Significance of Irony in Jane Austen’s Novels

5.1 Shaping Characters 

5.2 Highlighting the Theme

6. Conclusion

References

3.References

Austen, J. (1983). Sense and Sensibility. New York: Bantam Classic.

Chapman, R. (1923). Jane Austen: The Novels of Jane Austen. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Fowler, H. W. (1908). The King’s English. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Hamilton, C. M. (1908). Materials and Methods of Fiction. New York: The Baker and Taylor Company.

Harding, D. W. (1998). Regulated Hatred and Other Essays on Jane Austen. London: The Athlone Press.

Lascelles, M. (1963). Jane Austen and Her Art. London: Oxford University Press.

Muecke, D. C. (1969). The Compass of Irony. Great Britain: Metheuen & CO LTD.

Page, N. (1972). The Language of Jane Austen. New York: The Basil Blackwell.

[Hou, L.] 侯丽. (2010). 简·奥斯丁小说《傲慢与偏见》中的反讽艺术赏析. 《语文学刊（外语教育与教学）》第2期第31-32页.

[Li, Y.] 李炎. (2008). 奥斯丁的魅力之源——对“理性与情感”的反讽处理. 《现代语文（文学研究版）》第1期第80-82页.

[Liang, Y.] 梁玉峰. (2009). 文学语用学视角下《理智与情感》中的反讽的研究. Retrieved November 20, 2013, from ://cdmd.cnki.com.cn/Article/CDMD-101 26-2009235614.htm.

[Lin, W.] 林文琛. (1991). 奥斯丁反讽艺术片谈——奥斯丁人物塑造、情节结构的反讽艺术. 《外国文学评论》第4期第67-69页.

[Wang, X. & Kang, C.] 王新春, 康春艳. (2007). 女性主义意识由感性向理智的转变——解读简·奥斯丁的《理智与情感》. 《齐齐哈尔大学学报（哲学社会学科版）》第5期第111-113页.

[Zhu, H.] 朱虹. (1985). 《奥斯丁研究》. 北京：中国文联出版公司.

[Zhu, Y.] 祝燕敏. (2001). 论简·奥斯丁的反讽艺术. Retrieved March 29, 2014, from ://cdmd.cnki.com.cn/Article/CDMD-10542-2003103420.htm.