Essays in Romanticism

Abstract

It is widely accepted that Jane Austen’s fiction was influenced by the novels of her writer contemporaries. Jane West’s A Gossip’s Story (1796) has long been seen as inspiring, negatively and positively, elements of Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (1811). In this essay, I turn the tables to look at influence traveling in the other direction: Austen’s impact on West, as seen through a reading of the plot of her critically neglected last novel, Ringrove, or, Old-Fashioned Notions (1827). Taken together, Austen’s first novel and West’s last one show evidence of what we might call a mutual admiration—and a mutual disapprobation—society. Recognizing this multi-directional impact offers the potential for reaching new conclusions about the methods and legacies of both authors, particularly in terms of the politics of gender and class.