Jane Austen and the Enlightenment

It is now widely understood that Jane Austen's writing and thought were derived directly from her late eighteenth-century childhood, but astonishingly, this is the first study of the influence of the Enlightenment on Jane Austen. Drawing out the Enlightenment principles and ideas which lie behind much of Austen's writing, Peter Knox-Shaw presents a new perspective on the study of Austen's novels.