Unit5 Enjoying Novels

t: well done. sit. down, please. do you understand this passage? what does the author tell us in the first paragraph?
s7: consensus in society opposed the writing of novels by authoresses. but this period produced five of the most courageous and gifted authoresses. they are jane austen, the three bronte sisters (charlotte, emily and anne), and the writer known as george eliot.
t: good. who can tell us the general idea of paragraphs 2 to 3?
s8: the general idea of paragraphs 2 to 3 is the introduction of jane austen and her work "pride and prejudice".
t: it is not very specific. let's learn more about jane austen and "pride and prejudice". jane austen was born in a country clergyman's family on 16 december, 1775, in the parish of steventon. she was brought up in an intelligent but restricted environment. her father was a priest and scholar with a good library. she was. educated at home with her sister. through a wide reading of books available in her father's library, jane acquired a thorough knowledge of eighteen century english literature, including the moral philosophy of dr johnson, the, poetry, of w. cowper, as well as the novels by richardson and fielding. she lived in a quiet, retired and, in public terms, uneventful life, though she did move to several places like bath, southampton and chawton. and her closest companion was her elder sister cassandra, who, never married. austen began as a child to write novels for her family entertainment. her works were later published anonymously due to the prejudice against women writers then. in her lifelong career, jane austen wrote altogether six complete novels. she died in winchester. jane austen is particularly preoccupied with the relationship between men and women in love. stories of love and marriage provide the major themes in all her novels, in which female characters are always playing an active part. in their pursuit of a marriage, they are usually categorized into three types according to their different attitudes: those who would marry for material wealth and social position, those who would marry just for beauty and passion, and those who would marry for true love with a consideration of the partner's personal merit as well as his economical and social status. in another word, jane austen tries to say that it is wrong to marry just for money or for beauty, but it is also wrong to marry without it.
   do you understand the paragraphs 2 to 3 ?
ss: yes.
t: the fourth paragraph means that after jane austen, authoresses found it an even more hopeless task to publish novels under their own names. so they chose to publish their works using men's names. how much do you know charlotte bronte and her work "jane eyre"?