‘Gossip in Jane Austen’ by Amanda Jones
“My dear Mr Bennet, have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?” Many of us were socialised to think of gossip as a bad thing, which we should avoid, but ‘gossip’ drives and furthers many of the plots in Austen’s novels.
Whether perceived or unperceived, reliable or questionable, as an important means of communication, the characters and the books would be poorer without it.
Amanda Jones, JASA member, investigates the importance of gossip in Jane Austen’s novels.