Date of Defense
4-6-1992
Department
English
First Advisor
Dr. Katherine Joslin
Second Advisor
Dr. Thomas Bailey
Third Advisor
Dr. Stephanie Richardson
Abstract
"The pen has been in [men's] hands"—Jane Austen pens the statement for her heroine, Anne Eliot. The assertion better fits the character who experiences literature only through pleasure reading than the author who creates literature for a wide audience. Even with the distance, an irony still exists: a woman writer who achieves literary success in her lifetime still feels compelled to write about the difficulties facing women artists: writers, painters, actors, and singers. Austen's successors, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf, also discuss female artistry—with increasing intensity. And significantly, all four write about women and art in their final novels: Austen's Persuasion, Bronte's Villette, Eliot's Daniel Deronda, and Woolf's Between the Acts.
Recommended Citation
Murphy, Shelley, "The Last Word: A Study of the Final Novels of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf" (1992). Honors Theses. 841.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/841
Access Setting
Honors Thesis-Campus Only