Visuality in the Novels of Austen, Radcliffe, Edgeworth and Burney

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Examination of forms and functions of visuality in the novels of Jane Austen, Ann Radcliffe, Maria Edgeworth and Fanny Burney.

Visuality in the Novels of Austen, Radcliffe, Edgeworth and Burney argues that the proliferation of visual codes, metaphors and references to the gaze in women's novels published in Britain between 1778 and 1815 is more significant than scholars have previously acknowledged. The book's innovative survey of the oeuvres of four culturally representative women novelists of the period spanning the Anglo-French War and the Battle of Waterloo reveals the importance of visuality - the continuum linking visual and verbal communication. It provided women novelists with a methodology capable of circumventing the cultural strictures on female expression in a way that concealed resistance within the limits of language.

Reviews

Volz's treatment of visuality's variant nature makes her work stand out in the larger body of critical work that explores how women novelists in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century responded to the culture of patriarchy in their writing. Kropp, Colleen. Review of Visuality in the Novels of Austen, Radcliffe, Edgeworth and Burney, by Jessica A. Volz. Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 54 no. 2, 2021, p. 520-522. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/ecs.2021.0033.

'Volz looks at how these women novelists dealt with questions of gender politics, the Gothic imagination and other "optical allusions" a compelling read.'
Jane Austens Regency World Magazine

Volzs perceptive, careful analysis makes her book a valuable resource for readers of Austen, Radcliffe, Edgeworth, and Burney.
Claire Denelle Cowart, Jane Austen Society of North America,JASNA(Summer 2019).

'Jessica Volz makes an important contribution to the field of eighteenth-century gender studies. Finally, the "female gaze" is getting her due.'
Dr Amanda Foreman, historian and bestselling author ofGeorgiana, Duchess of Devonshire

"This examination of Austen, Radcliffe, Edgeworth, and Burney in terms of the methods of visuality contained in their novels from a vision-centric (or vision-obsessed) period is a welcome contribution to the field of feminist novel studies in general and eighteenth-century novel studies in particular. Visuality focuses clearly on a diverse body of scholarship and offers sharp, thought-provoking close readings to create an appropriate depth and breadth of coverage." Plante, Kelly. Review ofVisuality in the Novels of Austen, Radcliffe, Edgeworth and Burney, vol. 32 no. 3, 2020, p. 515-517.Project MUSEmuse.jhu.edu/article/752680."

"One can use Dr. Volzs observations in analyzing other Austen characters on our own Anne Elliot, Admiral and Mrs. Croft, and Henry Tilney, to mention a few. Austen scholars and Austen fans who have delved deeply into her characters lives and the history of Regency England will find this book fascinating and a useful reference in their libraries. Vic Sanborn, https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2020/05/31/qa-with-dr-jessica-a-volz-author-of-visuality-in-the-novels-of-austen-radcliffe-edgeworth-and-burney/, accessed 09 June, 2020 "

A good starting point [...] for exploring this wide field of research. Times Literary Supplement, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/visuality-in-the-novels-of-austen-radcliffe-edgeworth-and-burney-jessica-a-volz-ada-coghen/

Author Bio

Dr Jessica A. Volz is an independent British literature scholar and international communications strategist whose research focuses on the forms and functions of visuality in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century womens novels.