Unlike most Jane Austen scholarship before 1980, much recent scholarship analyzes the novels of Austen, who lived from 1775 to 1817, in the context of Austen’s tumultuous times, which saw the French and American revolutions and the Napoleonic Wars. Yet Frantz notes another revolution, rarely mentioned in Austen scholarship: the Great Masculine Renunciation that altered conventions in men’s dress and behavior. During the later eighteenth century, wealthy gentlemen exchanged the velvets and satins long in fashion for somber woolen suits. Frantz contends that this change reflected deeper cultural changes. The value once placed on men’s expressiveness, reflected in Mackenzie’s novel The Man of Feeling (1771), gave way to a preference for emotional restraint. In Austen’s novels, the heroine often struggles to glimpse the true nature of hero beneath his reserved exterior.
1. The author of the passage mentions The Man of Feeling (1771) in order to
A. contrast Mackenzie’s reasons for writing novels with those of Austen
B. introduce evidence regarding the influence of particular writers on Austen
C. corroborate a claim that a convention of masculine behavior changed during Austen’s lifetime
D. suggest that Austen’s novels were more reflective of their historical context than Mackenzie’s had been
E. challenge a particular misconception about the modes of behavior common among gentlemen in the later eighteenth century
2. The passage suggests which of the following about scholarship on Jane Austen?
A. Much recent scholarship has begun to place greater emphasis on gender conventions governing men’s behavior during Austen’s lifetime.
B. Some scholarship has debated whether Austen’s novels depict emotional restraint as an admiral quality.
C. Certain scholars argue that Austen’s novels do not accurately reflect cultural changes during Austen’s lifetime that changed the way gentlemen dressed and behaved.
D. After 1980, scholarship on Austen shifted toward a greater emphasis on the historical context in which she wrote.
E. With few exceptions, recent scholarship depicts Austen as a writer who had little interest in the tumultuous events of her time.
答案：C D
