Jane Austen and Leisure

"The smooth working of society depended on a round of visits, dinners and evening parties, sometimes enlivened by cards, music, dancing or amateur theatricals; and there were also regular outings to balls and assemblies, plays and concerts. Bath and other spas were active centres of entertainment of all kinds; and the seaside resort was steadily growing in importance. Jane Austen experienced all these herself and put them to good use in her novels; but she also registered the act that quiet, solitary pursuits such as reading, walking or the inevitable needlework might be more to the taste of a Fanny Price or an Anne Elliot. Male characters employ their leisure in a number of sports, often glimpsed offstage - shooting, hunting, racing, gaming."--BOOK JACKET. "Jane Austen and Leisure identifies leisure and its use as a central characteristic of Jane Austen's work."--BOOK JACKET.