Reception history of Jane Austen their class, instead of their moral failures being presented as a product of the social system. Writing about the work of Johnson, Irvine wrote that for her, Austen was a radical because it is women like Emma Woodhouse, Mrs. Elton and Mrs. Churchill who really run Highbury society, undercutting traditional gender roles, but Irvine questioned whether this really made Austen into radical, noting it was the wealth and status of the gentry women of Highbury that gave them their power. Irvine argued it was just as possible to see "Emma" as a conservative novel that upholds the superiority of the
Arthur Austen-Leigh Arthur Austen-Leigh Arthur Henry Austen-Leigh (28 February 1836 – 29 July 1917) was an English Anglican vicar, cricketer and association footballer. Austen-Leigh was born at Speen, Berkshire in February 1836, to Emma Smith and her husband, the vicar, James Edward Austen-Leigh, who was a nephew to the novelist Jane Austen. He was educated at both Radley College and Cheltenham College, before studying law and theology at Balliol College, Oxford. While studying at Balliol in 1857, Austen-Leigh played first-class cricket for the Gentlemen of England against the Gentlemen of Kent and Sussex at Lord's. He batted once in the match, opening