This book reveals a new dimension of Jane Austen's writing. While her pioneering use of Free Indirect Discourse to present interiority and create irony has long been acknowledged, the range of effects generated by her use of Free Indirect Speech has remained unrecognised. This book provides an accessible introduction to both stylistic approaches and charts the historical emergence of the latter technique in a range of eighteenth-century genres, taking into account changing typographical conventions for presenting speech.

The author uses close textual...