In his critical review, Harding explores what impressions of Jane Austen draw or repel readers from her works. The main impression of her work he identifies is its escapist quality for readers who long for a simpler, more trivial society. The second impression, that initially prevented Harding from reading her work, was the idea that the Austen’s books, although well written, were extremely limited in the scope of their criticism. However, after reading Pride and Prejudice, he discovered that these impressions were actually “seriously misleading”.
Harding also points out that Jane Austen isn’t much of a satirist, saying, “She has none of the underlying didactic intention ordinarily attributed to the satirist.” Rather, She wrote to express her “critical attitudes” towards society without causing controversy. As Harding sees it, Austen had to keep on reasonably good terms with her neighbors since she needed friends and respected the civilization they upheld. However, she could not accept the shallow existence and values they believed in, and thus she found her outlet in writing. It is extremely ironic then that the same people she criticizes in her novels are the same ones who enjoyed reading them.
Harding identifies caricature as Austen’s primary method of criticism rather than delicate satire. He stated that, “she found, of course, that one of the most useful peculiarities of her society was its willingness to remain blind to the implications of a caricature.” Thus, characters such as Mrs. Bennett are oversimplified versions of people she knew who can be laughed at without making the reader examine his or her own faults.
Harding attempts to convince his readers that Jane Austen’s novels are not as bad as they’ve heard, but I think that he fails in that goal in several ways. First, he never addresses the issue of escapism in her novels. A major failing of Jane Austen’s writings are that they are trivial methods of escapism. For example, Pride and Prejudice is based in a limited world of insignificant concerns of a few main characters. While it may not have been intended as escapist literature, the fact that readers treat it that way is a sign of declining standards in literature. Furthermore, if Harding is right about Austen’s use of caricatures as a substitute for satire, her writing is at best ineffectual criticism, weakened by the societal pressure she faced.
