Testy rzeczywistości. Narracje o zbrodniach w powieściach Jane Austen

Abstract

The aim of the article is the consideration of the way in which Jane Austen asks in her novels about the status of reality. The subject of the interest are the narrations about “crime” understood as the events breaching the normal social experience and revealing how fragile the reality is. The significant context of the consideration is the classical detective literature. The author proves that the work of Jane Austen can be characterized by the similar reflection on societies in which the project of social reality is entangled. Referring to the conception of Luc Boltanski, she shows that, in the novels of the British writer, crime is a form of “reality testing”. Austen casts in doubt the frames of reality and reveals the conventional dimension of the social life. Her purpose, however, is not to disclose the social world – she sees the possibility of its integration.