Styles and themes of Jane Austen In "Sense and Sensibility", Austen experiments extensively for the first time with this technique. For example, As Austen scholar Norman Page explains, "the first sentence is straight narrative, in the 'voice' of the [narrator]; the third sentence is normal indirect speech; but the second and fourth are what is usually described as free indirect speech." In these two sentences, Austen represents the inner thoughts of the character and creates the illusion that the reader is entering the character's mind. She often uses indirect speech for background characters. However, Page writes that "for Jane Austen ... the supreme virtue of free
The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things is a biography of novelist Jane Austen by the writer Paula Byrne first published in 2013. The biography does not follow her life chronologically; rather her story is told around events or objects in Austen's life as the starting point to describe the famous English author. It received several positive reviews after first publication. This biography of Jane Austen is organized by objects or scenes in Austen's life, rather than chronologically. Austen's experiences with life are shown to be broader than that