『엠마』에 나타난 제인 오스틴의 글쓰기 전략

Abstract

Jane Austen has been considered to be a very skillful novelist in spite of the fact that her novels are mainly concerned about one theme: courtship process. This seems to have been a great enigma to many critics. When we examine her writing strategy in Emma, we come to realize how complicated her writing strategy is. Even though she deals with a very simple theme of courtship in this novel, she pushes the reader always on the edge, forcing her to readjust her horizon of expectations. This is the secret of Austen's writing. Emma starts out looking for a husband for Harriet, but she herself ends up getting married to Nightley. Emma at first publicly announces that she would never marry, but at the end of the novel she realizes that Nightley is just the man for herself, not Harriet. The reader, therefore, has to adjust her horizon of expectations to realize what has been going on in her mind. In Austen's novels seemingly trivial hints all add up on which the reader bases her own decision. This is the reason why the reader of Auten's novels always has to be alert to the most trivial-looking hints dropped along the way. She has to constantly adjust her horizon of expectations.