Comfort??????with its various connotations of physical ease, wealth, independence,and service??????is an important concept to Jane Austen, who uses comfort in her novels toboth affirm and challenge accepted women??????s roles and status in her culture. In the lateeighteenth century, new ideas of physical comfort emerged out of luxury along with agrowing middle class, to become something both English people and foreignersidentified with English culture. The perceived ability of the English to comfort well gavethem a reason for national pride during a time of great anxieties about France??????s culturaland military might, and Austen participates in her culture??????s struggle to define itselfagainst France. Austen??????s ??????comfort?????? is the term she frequently associates with women,home, and Englishness in her works.Austen??????s depiction of female protagonists engaged in the work of comfortingsolaces modern readers, who often long for the comfort, good manners, and leisurepresented in the novels. Surveys of two sample groups, 139 members of the Jane AustenSociety of North America and 40 members of the online Republic of Pemberley, elicitdata confirming how current readers of Austen turn to her works for comfort duringtimes of stress or depression. Although some readers describe using Austen??????s novels as a form of escapism, others view their reading as instructive for dealing with humanfailings, for gaining perspective on personal difficulties, and for stimulating theirintellects. Austen??????s fiction grapples with disturbing possibilities, such as the liminalposition of powerless single women at the mercy of the marriage market and ficklefamily wishes, as much as it provides comforting answers. Comforts (decent housing,love in marriage, social interaction) are such a powerful draw in Austen??????s works becausewomen??????s discomfort is so visible, and for many, so likely. Thus, Austen??????s comfortchallenges as much as it reassures her audience.
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