How Jane Austen Changed Fiction Forever

in the first chapter of the first book

that Jane Austin ever published since insensibility she did something

that changed fiction forever the narrator of the book begins by describing the situation

of the dashwood family John dashwood has come into a big inheritance from his

father Henry who on his deathbed makes John promise to take care of his

three half sisters when he gave his promise to his father he meditated within

himself to increase the fortunes of his sisters by the present of,000 a piece

he then really thought himself equal to it the prospect of 4,000 a year

made him feel capable of generosity yes he would give them £3,000 it would

be liberal and handsome it would be enough to make them completely easy £3,000

he could spare so considerable a sum with little inconvenience he thought of it

all day long and for many days successively

and he did not repent

so what stands out in this passage

which of these things is not like the rest well it's this part here

before this the the narrator is describing the thoughts

and feelings of John dashwood

but in the highlighted section something changes it's suddenly

as if we're inside Jon's mind

and yet the point of view doesn't change we're still in the third person

now Austin could have reported Jon's thoughts directly here writing I will give them

£3,000 or I can spare

so considerable a sum

but she doesn't instead she does something new in English literature what's called free

indirect speech now Austin isn't the first to use thisch technique

but she's the first author to do

so consistently the first to really explore its possibilities

and in the process she effectively adds a new tool to the writer's toolbox

but why what is free indirect style good for why not just use direct

thought well if you're familiar with Jane Austin you know

that all of her books have a really strong narratorial voice the narrator has

full control over the story painting a universe of manners making witty sides to

the reader and using irony to critique characters

and social conventions to accomplish her goals Austin needed her narrator to have critical

distance from the story

but this ironic distance has the potentially negative side effect of distancing the characters

from The Reader I mean she still needs us to be emotionally involved with

these people after all free indirect speech is Austin's intuitive

and revolutionary solution for having it both ways okay let's look at another subtler

example from Emma as matchmaking Title Character thinks about the suitability of Mr Elton

for her friend Harriet Smith the longer she considered it the greater was her

sense of its expediency Mr elton's situation was most suitable quite the gentleman himself

and without low connections he had a comfortable home for her

and Emma imagined a very sufficient income for

though the vicarage of hbur was not large he was known to have some

independent property and she thought very highly of him

as a good humored well-meaning respectable young man like the first passage this one

begins firmly in the first person narratorial voice with she considered

and her sense then in the second sentence it seamlessly switches to free indirect

speech and we're inside Emma's mind

which you can tell by phrasing like most suitable

and quite the gentleman after this it starts to get tricky Austin begins to

weave in and out a free indirect speech within individual sentences the narrator returns

with phrases like Emma imagined

and she thought and

as critic Daniel gun points out this return

and the distance it creat reminds us to be wary of Emma's judgments

and imaginings but then we slip right back into her spirit again her subjectivity

in Clauses like a goodh humored well-meaning respectable young man in Emma especially Austin

uses free indirect speech with extraordinary finesse dipping in

and out of several Minds without ever interrupting the flow of narration representing subjectivities

as dun says with great immediacy

while still providing a frame within

which that subject ity can be understood at the end of the novel we

get the amazing convergence of these two voices

as Emma's self-deception becomes self- knowledge

as her inner voice finally aligns with what the narrator

and the reader have seen all along free IND direct speech is a formal

Innovation that changed the course of literature now it's impossible to say who Austin

influenced directly but she effectively created a tool

that thousands and thousands of authors used

and still use including some of the most famous ever like George Elliott Henry

James James Joyce and Virginia wolf unlike these other authors Jane Austin is often

belittled for her seemingly lightweight marriage comedies

but that critique misses the complex formal dynamics

that are working under the surface

if you really want to see Austin's genius you have to look deeper you

have to look at the language hey everybody thank you

so much for watching

if you like like this video check out my book of essays Escape into

meaning which is currently on sale at the link below this episode was brought

to you by Squarespace

if you don't know Squarespace is the all-in-one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand

out and succeed online whether you're just starting out

or managing a growing brand Squarespace makes it easy to create a beautiful website

engage with your audience

and sell anything from products to content to time all in one place all

on your terms their templates are flexible their blogging tools are super easy easy

to use and Squarespace provides you with all the analytics you need to iterate

and grow your business head over to squarespace.com for a free trial

and when you're ready to launch go to squarespace.com nerdwriter for 10% off your

first purchase thanks guys I'll see you next time