An Intertextual Reading Of Jane Austen’s Novels

Jane Austen is a famous British woman writer. Her works mainly focus on thelove and marriage of the young middle-class women. The process of their love andthe ending of their marriage reflect the hierarchy, the economic relations, the womenstatus and the great changes of the British society in those times. Her masterpiece,Pride and Prejudice, has got great attention from the critics both in the west and inChina. Although some scholars had analyzed it from the perspectives of feminism, thefamily values or marriage, no one explored the intertextual relationship between thetexts, other literary texts and the social texts. This thesis tries to explore themacro-intertexutality and micro-intertextuality of Jane Austen’ two novels: Pride andPrejudice and Sense and Sensibility.Part One is concerned with macro-intertextuality, which is put forward by JuliaKristeva who think that society, history and culture could be regarded as the sourcesof literary works. The social history interacts with literary works. Through the readingof Jane Austen’s works, readers can get a general idea about the social history, femalestatus and the author’s personal life in chapter one.Part Two is devoted to exploring micro-intertextuality, which refers to therelation of one literary text to the other. Gerarde Genette uses “Palimpsest” to explainthe interrelation of literary texts. When reading Jane Austen’s novels, readers willthink of Fanny Burney’s Evelina. The two writers set up the young lady with littlefortune as heroines, who elevated themselves into the society by marrying richgentlemen. Pride and Prejudice parallels to Sense and Sensibility and both of themare the revision of Evelina to some extent. The love and marriage pattern, familytradition and the characters of Pride and Prejudice can find their prototypes in Senseand Sensibility.By intertextual reading through the past and the present, this thesis contributes tohelping readers better understand the literary texts and non-literary texts of JaneAusten’s novels.