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The Jane Austen diet: the weight of women in Austen's letters.(AGM 2005: Milwaukee)

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From: Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal
Date: 20050101
Author:Anderson, Kathleen

IF JANE AUSTEN WERE THE JUDGE of a beauty pageant today, who would be her winner? What image of the female body would she promote? In the novels, both robust and delicate women are portrayed as attractive. The athletic Elizabeth Bennet and Marianne Dashwood as well as the frail Anne Elliot and Fanny Price are all beautiful in their ways, and their relative size is not the factor that determines their feminine appeal for either the author or the characters who love them. Comparisons between female characters within a particular novel convey the same message. For example, in Emma, ...