오스틴 소설에 나타난 대중 미학

Aesthetics as a popular narrative in Austen's Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen's novels have been highly regarded as the masterpiece of British literature and now they are the representative figures of high culture. However, they were considered as popular narratives in that period since novel was not acknowledged as one of the genres in high culture. Therefore, the aim of this paper is re-reading Austen's pride and prejudice as popular narrative to find out its true aesthetics in relation with the prevalent narrative styles and the 'structure of feeling' of the early 19th century British society when the big social mobility occurred among the classes. To detect aesthetic elements as a popular narrative in Pride and Prejudice, specific aesthetic elements of popular culture should be premised. One of the most distinguished aesthetic elements in popular culture could be referred as the ability to communicate with daily lives. To support this, John Dewey's idea in Art as an experience and paul Willis's "ground aesthetics" theory were introduced. Both emphasize the symbolic significance of daily lives and the communication with real world in popular culture. The most noticeable aesthetic value in Austen's Pride and Prejudice lies in the insightful description of the society through the romance plot which was the most popular female narrative styles of the period and in settlement of its stereotypical form through illustrating the spirit of times. Austen showed the spirit with the new woman figure and even with marriage relationship as well as with the humorous and satirical narrative style, free indirect discourse. Austen's aesthetic achievement in Pride and Prejudice was feasible due to the endeavor to communicate with the real lives of the times, which was the original force of the birth of novel that was created with the formation of modern British civil society.