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Dance, physicality, and social mobility in Jane Austen's Persuasion.(Miscellany)

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From: Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal
Date: 20030101
Author:Wilson, Cheryl A.

IN JANE AUSTEN AND THE PROVINCE OF WOMANHOOD, Alison Sulloway notes, "with the exception of Anne Elliot, all the heroines either meet their lovers at balls or their creator provides them with a crucial scene at a ball" (155). Austen scholars have noted the indisputable importance of dance in the novels, usually arguing that the prominent ballroom scenes stand as microcosms of Austen's social world. However, in Persuasion, Austen appears to have abandoned dance and relegated Anne Elliot to the status of "heroine without a ball." (1) While there is very little dancing in Persuasion, ...

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